The Avatar Snare
by jai-kun
Summary: Azula finds herself at the Avatar's mercy. Azulacentric, Kataang, Ty Lee X Sokka one sided , Mai X Zuko one sided... so far Sokka x Suki.
1. Mercy

The Avatar Snare

She was down. She was out.

She was dying.

It had been Iroh that had struck the fatal blow. She could see in his face the regret behind the cold determination. She found it humorous that she'd always thought he was weak and a coward for his failure to capture Ba Sing Se. She had underestimated him, and it had cost her. A laugh bubbled from her chest, turning into a wracking cough before it could be realized.

She was _dying_.

The realization hit her like a boulder to the chest (a sensations she was, unfortunately, recently acquainted with, from both the Avatar and the little blind girl.). She, the scion of Fire Lord Ozai, the prodigy of the Fire Nation, able to wield both blue flame and lightning, was dying. Somehow, it was neither right nor fair, and she felt tears burning her eyes.

Ty Lee was weeping over her, and she was both angry at her weakness and touched. She could not call many people "friend", but the two on their knees to either side, one gripping her hand in a death grip, the other bawling her eyes out, were less frightened of her than most.

Voices came to her, then, and she strained to hear them, her skin chilling slowly, either from death or the terror of her recent realizations. Then another voice, somehow clear despite it's quiet, reached her ears.

"Katara, can you heal her?"

"WHAT?!"

There were several different voices in that last word, and she turned her head to see her brother, the blind girl, the water tribe warrior, and the water bender staring incredulously at the Avatar. The little boy, who had never seemed so young when he fought her, looked down at her sadly, as if she were a friend and not his worst enemy. She could see the tears shimmering in his eyes as he watched her. It was painful. She longed to send a bolt of fire at him, to melt the pity from his face.

The water bending girl must have seen something in his eyes. "I don't know, Aang. I can try." Her voice was soft, edged with anger, but anger well buried. The Avatar, perhaps, didn't hear the anger, because he looked up with her with smoky eyes full of hope.

"No." The word was firm, but not a shout. It wavered at the end, and her uncle, strong enough to kill her, stared at her, strengthening the determination in his eyes despite the deep regret growing behind it. "She has to go down. She will hunt you all the harder if you have pity."

He is a genius, she thought, swallowing. He knows his enemies well. I should have killed him instead of just using him as a distraction. Well played, Uncle.

"I'm tired of killing," said the Avatar, suddenly sounding and looking rather old. Ancient. Timeless, in a way. "Aren't you tired of killing?"

She could see, one by one, the members of the ragtag little group that had pledged themselves to this boy, give in, not with a nod or a word, but with their shoulders. Iroh was the last, after even Zuko, who had more reason to hate her than any of them, but he did, finally, give in.

The Water Bender strode toward her and knelt next to Ty Lee, pulling the top off of her water skin. Ty Lee reacted like a cornered tigerdillo. A cry tore itself from the acrobat's throat and she lurched toward the water bender with hands like claws. Mai, however, caught her and held the acrobat away, whispering, "She can't possibly make it worse. She'll either heal her or kill her faster. Both are better than this."

Ty Lee stared at Mai before sagging into her arms, sobbing.

"This will hurt," the water bender whispered, not bothering to hide her distaste now. She wasn't wrong. It hurt worse than fire, and she arched gritting her teeth against a strangled cry. Princesses didn't cry out, even when being tortured.

The world went black, briefly, but she did not fall unconscious. She could feel, and could hear past the rushing of blood in her ears. Soon the pain began to, slowly, give way to a cooling sensation, stinging a bit still but better than the numbness of death.

It took time, she knew, but how much was lost to her. Finally there was only the cooling stinging feeling, and she could breathe easily. The water bender, Katara, fell back, pale and trembling, slowly rising to her feet.

Azula reached out and grabbed her wrist. It would be so easy, even in her weakened state, to burn the flesh from her wrist and leave her injured. It would be simple to hurt this water bender as she had been hurt, at least cause the distraction needed to get away. The girl pulled back, but was not frightened.

"Why," she asked, noting the dryness in her throat, but piercing the water bender with her stare nonetheless.

"Because Aang asked me to," came the chilly reply, and she pulled her arm free with hardly any effort.

Azula was not deterred. She looked up at the Avatar and asked the same question. "Why?"

He did not answer, simply looked at her with those eyes that were both ancient and child like, and turned to walk away. The water bender followed, then the blind girl, and finally the warrior and Iroh, together. Only Zuko remained, looking down at her, his own good eye narrowed.

"Staying to gloat, Zuzu," said Azula over the top of Ty Lee's head while the acrobat clung to her and wetted her shirt.

"No," he said, his voice coming from a dry throat. "Believe it or not, I stayed to warn you."

"Nothing _changes_, Zuzu," Azula replied archly. "The Fire Nation still wants the Avatar. You and Iroh are still traitors. None of that has changed because your new leader showed a stupid sense of compassion."

"That's not it," Zuko said, a half smile on his face. A superior smirk that Azula wanted to wipe off his face so badly she nearly leapt to her feet. Would have, in fact, if not for the girl clinging to her and sobbing. "I had the Avatar in my clutches once. A sword to his throat and everything. I was, unfortunately, knocked out. Instead of leaving me to get caught, he pulled me away from Zhoa's men, even before he knew who actually held him. Then he asked, if not for the war, if we could have been friends."

Azula's eyes narrowed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"The next time I caught him," he continued as if she'd not spoken, "I had him tied up and everything and he still managed to escape. His girlfriend caught me with a lucky shot and... well, they could have left me to die, but they didn't."

"Interesting as this is, Zuzu--"

"The Avatar changes you, Azu. Maybe not right away, and maybe not even a way you would notice. But he changes you a lot. You've got a rough road ahead of you. Try not to trip."

She could have hit him in the back when he walked away. She was too occupied, however, with the realizations that each time she could have done something, she instead waited. She was becoming weak. Like her uncle. Like her brother.

"Get off, Ty Lee," she whispered hoarsely, swallowing a lump in her throat. "We have work to do."

- - - - -

My first fic inspired by someone else's fanfiction. RadiantBeam is a great writer, and I love her interpretation of Sokkula. I always wondered why Azula might turn from her self-centered ways, and decided... why not write about it? This was the result.


	2. Stirrings

A/N : I'm not 100 happy with this, but if I mess with it more without a break, I'll ruin it. So, here it is. Constructive criticism is welcome, flames will be tittered at and mocked in private.

I won't be continuing this story until after I've caught up on Avatar.

Azula's thoughts were conflicted as they walked back into Ba Sing Se. To say that she was not alert would have earned the accuser a quick and fatal dealing with. But she was not as focused as she felt she should have been. She knew, for example, that people were around her, but could not focus on an individual save for her two companions. Even they were as muted shadows in her mind. The only thing she could see clearly were the smoke grey eyes, old and tired and infinitely sad. Weak. Yet strong enough to defeat her.

Perhaps that was what had bothered her the most. After each confrontation with the Avatar and his band of misfits she had come away relatively unscathed. This time, she had been defeated, soundly. Close to death. It was a possibility she had prepared for, having researched the abilities of the Avatar long before her Father had sent her to find him. She had heard that Avatars of the past were brutal and extreme. One had cracked a land mass to prevent a city's destruction, killing a man in the process. Roku had been the most fierce. It was fitting for a Fire Nation Avatar.

But this one. This airbender had spared her, spared her brother, and seemingly with full knowledge that it changed nothing. All because he was 'tired of killing'.

Too bad.

She turned, suddenly, catching Ty Lee off guard. The girl looked up at her with red eyes, and Azula felt herself wincing. She steeled herself with a scowl.

"What is it?" Her voice snapped Ty Lee to attention, to focus, just as it had all the men under her command. It was yet another of her gifts, one she used often and with great affect. She could see Ty Lee straighten, her shoulders pushed back and her eyes wide.

"N-nothing!"

She smirked, beginning to feel herself again for the first time since her defeat. "Don't lie, Ty Lee. I can always tell." Ty Lee shuddered, swallowing thickly, which brought a familiar warmth to her chest. "Now tell me. What. Is. It?"

The acrobat's mouth opened and closed like a fish before she finally blurted out, "You could have _died_!". Then her hands flew to her mouth, and she took a step back, then another, then a third. Ty Lee swallowed thickly when she stopped stood straight and looked her in the eye, the tremor in her voice more than fear, tinged with deep, deep sadness. "You could have died, Azula, and then where would we be?"

Azula had stopped, an odd, cold weight in her chest threatening to send liquid lead into her bones and brain, her throat tightening. She hid this frightening new feeling with narrowed eyes and turned to Mai. "And you? Do you feel the same way?"

Mai's gaze never faltered, not for anyone, hardly ever changed from the bored expression she now wore. But Azula's keen eyes could see the flicker of change deep in the brown pathways of her friends spiritual windows; the subtle tightening around her eyes, the slight wrinkle at the corner of her lip. "This isn't the place to discuss it," she said, sounding to the random passer-by as bored as always, but to an ear trained to distinguish fearful obedience from that caused by loyalty it was tinted by a wave of sadness.

"Mm," the Princess murmured, nodding. Ty Lee looked abashed, but there was no sign of regret in her stance, only the resignation of one who's secret is finally in the open, and Mai faced straight ahead, still looking as if the entire world bored her. Finally, she turned to Ty Lee and pierced her with golden eyes.

"I'm not dead. The Avatar chose to spare me." Ty Lee gave no indication that she heard, let alone agreed. Her attention was focused, and she was unusually somber.

"I am not dead, but you're right. I could have been." Her companion's eyes widened, and the girl swallowed at the sudden, feral grin on her Princess' face. "So let's make them pay for that, shall we?"

Ty Lee stared, then nodded, slowly, casting her eyes to the ground. Azula chose to ignore this, lifting her head, turning, and walking with dignified grace toward the palace of Ba Sing Se. She ignored with all her might the look of sadness on Ty Lee's face, as hard or harder as she ignored the cold feeling spreading through her heart.

"She doesn't get it," the girl hissed in a whisper when she felt they were alone. Mai looked up and blinked.

"Get what, Ty Lee?"

The circus girl was pacing back and forth along the wall furthest from the door, a completely normal activity for anyone in distress, except that she was doing so on her hands. "She doesn't understand at all."

Mai nodded slowly, as if the intent behind the words were conveyed with crystal clarity. "It's no use arguing with her about it, though."

"Argue?!" With a yelp, Ty Lee fell off her hands to the floor, chest first, ankles on either side of her ear. "I thought you liked me, Mai! I wouldn't argue with Azula, I want to _live_!"

Mai rolled her eyes at the gallows humor. "She just isn't used to losing, Ty. It's embarrassing to her, so she doesn't think about it. She just doesn't want to lose face."

"I don't care about _that,_" sighed the girl, unfolding herself from the ground and plopping herself into a sitting position from a one armed handstand. "Win or lose, she's still Azula to me." Her voice quieted. "I just don't want to lose my friend."

Silence reigned until Mai spoke, slowly. "I don't think she thinks of us as friends, Mai. Elite soldiers, maybe." The slender girl shook her head, none of the sadness in her voice reaching her face. "She'll probably kill us when we're done hunting the Avatar."

Ty Lee's voice shook, not with fear, but with raw emotion. "I know. But no matter how she thinks of me, she's still _my _friend. You, too," she added, almost as an afterthought, which seemed to make Mai laugh.

"Thanks." The noble assassin sobered. "I know what you mean, though."

Ty Lee gaped, then leaped, squealing, to hug Mai around the middle. Mai sighed, pushed half heartedly to dislodge the smaller girl, then gave up and patted her head. "Just don't act like this in public, OK?"

"OK," giggled Ty, pushing herself back into a sitting position and doing her best to mimic Mai's bored expression before both dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Neither noticed Azula walk away from the cracked open doorway, brow furrowed, teeth clenched, and eyes, oddly, slightly moist.


	3. Words

Princess Azula of the Fire Nation knew very well the power of words. Words could make a coward into a soldier; a criminal into a traitor to his own crime; a man who would be King into a loyal subject of the new Queen.

Sometimes words had to be backed by power or pain. Once a certain amount of renown had been achieved, words were a much more effective tool than any rand or demonstration of power. Words could crush a spirit far more effectively than a fireball to the chest.

As such, Azula had ruled the words that came out of her mouth, using each and every one of them with the precision of a lightning strike. Her praise, tough to earn, was modulated to inspire deeper loyalty, and when praise was ineffective, there was always fear. She could instill fear with a simple twitch of an eyebrow and a well chosen word.

It was, therefore, little surprise when words trickled through Azula's mind like a brook over stones, haunting her in the small hours of the night.

Sleep was not a comfort, either. She could then see the faces belonging to the voices that whispered to her, one by one, betraying her hard fought confidence with doubts.

_"I'm tired of killing. Aren't you tired of killing?" The face was young with eyes as ancient as the Spirit World. And tired. Infinitely tired, the weariness of ages upon ages of toil in their depths. She could have seen the history of the planet if only she'd been able to watch those eyes long enough._

_"Because Aang asked me to." The face is set in defiance, eyes angry and cold like the ice they resemble, the ice she can control. Yet she followed the Avatar's request as if it were an order, unquestioning, loyal despite the illogic behind it. There wasn't even a hint of sabotage (though Azula held no doubt it needn't have hurt as much as it did). The anger that was in her eyes didn't reach her hands or her healing art._

_"The Avatar changes you, Azu. Maybe not right away, and maybe not even a way you would notice. But he changes you a lot." This face, these eyes she should be familiar with, eyes she should know from years of experience watching them shift from arrogance to shame to anger at her own words. Hadn't she memorized that face in giddy hours after the abortive _agni kai_ with their father? Yet the eyes and face swimming before her were both smug and almost pitying. And the words shivered anew with their correctness._

_"You could have _died_!" The face before her now swam in anguish, tears sparking in her eyes like jewels, the tracks of tears she had shed while her-- more words interrupted her vision, then, from the same face, which was only slightly calmer. "I don't care about _that._ Win or lose, she's still Azula to me. I just don't want to lose my friend." Friend. The word had never been used in regards to her within her hearing, and yet Ty Lee didn't hesitate to attribute it to the Princess of the Fire Nation. The word echoed in her mind, bringing a sinking, uncomfortable feeling to her chest as the face faded away._

_It was replaced, naturally, by it's counterpart; cool, almost bored, gold eyes hidden behind half lids. The eyes, somehow, were all that conveyed the feelings behind the mask of boredom Mai always wore, and only one close to her could ever determine what those feelings were. "I don't think she thinks of us as friends, Mai. Elite soldiers, maybe. She'll probably kill us when we're done hunting the Avatar." A tremble shook the Princess_, and she sat up straight, gasping

The words from her dream-memory echoed again, Mai's voice alternating with Zuko's. "I don't think she thinks of us as friends." "The Avatar changes you, Azu." "She'll probably kill us when we're done hunting the Avatar."

Azula squeezed her eyes closed, growling low through grit teeth. The Avatar! It was some spell, it must be, one designed to weaken her. She would not give in. She would fight this spell and emerge triumphant, once again where her brother could not.

A knock at the door pulled her from her mind with a start, and she watched a small piece of parchment. She stared at it in confusion before standing and walking down the hallway. Unlike the servant, she pushed the door open, surprising Ty Lee and Mai. "Get your things together, ladies," she said, softer than an order but with the conviction of one. "We are going back to the Fire Kingdom tomorrow. Father has summoned us."

* * *

A/N: I'm not 100 happy with this one, either. But I think it gets the point across I want to get across. Be kind and know, if anything, this is a transition to a later chapter :)


	4. The Summons

Despite her words to her Captain when she first took the mission to capture the Avatar, Azula knew quite a lot about the tides. Not only the tides of the ocean, which sailed her ship and let her travel seas in her quest, but the tides of politics. She had seen her father grow stronger through his time in the war, and with that strength came loyalty from the men and fear from his enemies.

It also brought a certain paranoia, which made his summons for her and her team that much more disconcerting. He would not reward success in the capture of Ba Sing Se with a summons, he would send a messenger, or troops, or funds. The last time she had seen anyone summoned, it was when Iroh returned from Ba Sing Se a failure. The result had not been pleasant.

For Iroh, at least. She had giggled.

There was no laughter now. She leaned against the railing, staring out at the sea, lost in thought. She was aware (she was always aware. She could not afford to be caught off guard) of Mai standing next to her, tall and regal as her upbringing demanded, bored and aloof as her personality warranted. Yet she knew that beneath her sleeves, in which her hands curled to stave off the cool ocean climate, two spring loaded daggers were poised to fight off any attack.

_I don't think she thinks of us as friends. _The phrase intruded on her musings, and she snarled in surprise. If Mai had noticed, or cared, she did not show it.

Ty Lee was not so discreet. "What is it, Azula?" The Princess had not even heard the acrobat walking up behind her, but she did not let her surprise best her again. Instead she turned with what she knew was a thoughtful scowl.

"I want to know what my father is thinking, pulling me from the site of the Fire Nation's greatest victory. The city of Ba Sing Se, hand delivered to him without the loss of a man. Their army ready to fight as our own. Why call us home now? Why not let us carry our momentum into a capture of the Avatar?"

Ty Lee shrugged, barely concealing her obvious discomfort. Azula imagined the poor girl had her own theories about why they were being brought back, none of them good, or even pleasant. Azula herself was not worried about unpleasantness, however. She had done nothing wrong, and by extension, neither had Mai or Ty Lee.

Mai looked sideways at the two, then faced the ocean again. "Whatever it is, we'll find out in two weeks. There's no sense in fretting about it until then."

Azula huffed slightly, turning back to face the ocean. "The more I know, the more I'm prepared to deal with," she said, quietly, knowing the other two heard regardless. Ty Lee leaned next to her, and Mai stepped closer to the rail.

_No matter how she thinks of me, she's still _my_ friend. _The word struck Azula as Ty Lee's arm brushed her own. She glanced at the girl, sideways, taking in her profile as she watched the ocean, lost in her thoughts, grey eyes mirroring the clouds above. She turned and looked at Azula, catching the Princess watching, and smiled brightly before turning back.

_She always has a smile when she sees me, no matter what I've done. She never blamed me for taking her away from the circus, even though she ran from a very noble house to join it. She has never held anything I've done against me. Even setting her net on fir- _A rock sank into her stomach, and she nearly groaned. She had never, not once, felt like that before. The feeling, she knew was called something, and before long she remembered it's name. Guilt.

_Oh this will not do at **all**! _She straightened and turned, her back rigid. "I'm going to train. I'm aggravated, so I wouldn't come to watch today. It will be dangerous." Without waiting for a reply, she strode to the front deck of the ship. She could barely hear Mai over the waves.

"What's gotten into her?"

"Yeah, I know... she actually warned us this time."

* * *

Azula had spent most of the rest of the journey in training or in her cabin, receiving pigeonmice with status reports from Long Feng, sending them back with instruction. Once, maybe twice, Mai and Ty Lee visited, but her surly demeanor kept them away for the most part. She felt satisfied that she could be a lone, yet, oddly, she found something was missing when they weren't around as well.

More troubling was her training. She was finding it harder and harder to concentrate. And she had discovered an even worse side effect of the so called Avatar's Spell.

She could no longer summon lightning.

* * *

The Hall of the Fire Lord was dark, lit by pyres on either side of the cavernous room, one every three meters on the entire length of the room, torches spaced just as evenly down the long walk from the massive chamber doors to the throne itself. Despite the amount of fire, it was dim at best, owing to the cavernous proportions of the royal hall. The result were shadows in pools of light, and stifling heat.

In a way, it was yet another line of defense for the Lord of the Fire Nation. He would never be without flame to control, manipulate, and the heat would drain the energy of those not used to it. If they could muster an attack, it would be quickly contained, either by the guards or by the Fire Lord himself.

For this reason, anyone who sought audience with the Fire Lord would be forced to walk through a stifling hall full of shadows, hiding guards and rife with the element of the land. The very act of doing so was enough to quench the desire of anyone wishing to attack the Fire Lord directly.

Adding to the psychological impact was the fact that the shadows completely engulfed the Fire Lord himself, so that no one could see his face. To not be able to see ones opponent is to never be sure what that person was thinking. If the heat did not stop them, if the walk through fire did not disuade them, the very fact that the one they would attack seemed to absorb the light often gave an attacker enough reason to keep his rebellion to himself.

So it was that three young women walked into the throne room and approached the throne of the Fire Lord. One walked with noble bearing, hands in her sleeves, eyes and face composed in a mask of indifference, if not boredom. The other walked gracefully, staring ahead to keep her eyes from wandering to the shadows, to keep fear from her face. The third, their leader, walked with her head back, her eyes held on the Throne with an almost lustful attention, her very posture screaming that she belonged her. It was only proper for a princess.

They knelt at the foot of the throne, and Azula looked up to the silhouette that was her father. A shadow, as she had ever known him. The man who taught her that power must be everything, simply because he never lowered himself to touch her or Zuko when he could have spent time in the throne room, surrounded by his own power.

"Father, what is it you would ask of me?"

The shadow of the Fire Lord gazed down at Azula, unanswering, as if looking for a weakness in her. She held her gaze where her Father's eyes must be, unwavering, fighting the urge to raise her brow in a show of impatience. Though not many deserved respect from her, Azula knew that to show any disrespect to the Fire Lord was to ask for death.

"The traitor, Iroh. The failure, Zuko." His voice was deep, imposing, and devoid of all emotion. "Where are they?"

Azula swallowed. "Zuko has..." Before she could continue, a blast of fire pounded into the ground close to her leg. She looked up, eyes narrowed.

"Zuko has earned his reward for his treachery. Why are they not dead?"

Azula said nothing as her father stood, imposing on his throne. "Why is the Avatar still alive to plague me? Why do the nations not tremble at my name? Explain this to me." He stepped on the first step, then the second, his face slowly coming out of the shadow, then stopped, still hidden by the flickering light. What Azula could see of his eyes was disturbing. Mad.

"My Lord," she began, carefully. "I have taken, in your name, New Ozai, a strong city formerly called Omashu. I have also brought to you the capital itself, Ba Sing Se, with soldiers willing to fight to keep it in the Fire Nations hands. Do you doubt that I can stop one boy and a motley gang of rogues with him?"

"And yet, they still plague me." Ozai's voice was cold. "You know from Zuko's mistake that failure will not be tolerated."

"I have not failed you," Azula growled, standing to her full height. "The Avatar _will_ be neutralized before Sozin's comet comes to give us it's strength!"

The Fire Lord regarded her through the flame, standing in a defiant pose, her fists clenched at her sides. He smiled, a smile that, to Azula, didn't seem to meet his eyes. "I have faith in you, my daughter," he said, as soft as his deep voice could manage. "However, I think, perhaps, you need a reminder of the price of failure."

Before she could react, the Fire Lord had dropped into a deep crouch, brought a fist up, and sent a fireball hurling.

Straight for Ty Lee and Mai.

* * *

I think, maybe, I need a beta reader. I hope this isn't as bad as it looks to me. :-\ 


	5. Rebellion

Azula watched in horror as the fireball raced toward Mai and Ty Lee. Seconds stretched into infinite time, as it always seemed when she was locked deep in battle. Ty Lee's eyes reflected the flame as it shot toward her, frozen in place in abject terror. Mai looked as if she were resigned, knowing there was no way to escape the wrath of the Fire Lord.

She could feel her heart starting to pound harder and harder, her memories flashing from her childhood to the present. Words that she had been plagued by since the day she'd almost died rushed through her head in a torrent.

_I don't think she thinks of us as friends. _

_No matter how she thinks of me, she's still _my_ friend. _

_She'll probably kill us when we're done hunting the Avatar. _

_I just don't want to lose my friend._

She vaguely heard a battle cry through the roaring in her ears, and saw a blue flame rise in front of Ty Lee and Mai, just in time to dissipate the orange flame from the Fire Lord. And then she was in front of them, her hands held in position at either side, her eyes on her father.

She hadn't even remember moving.

"You _dare_," growled the voice of Ozai. "You dare--"

Azula was silent as her father's rage clogged his throat until his only coherent response was to send more jets of flame in their direction. Azula was hard pressed to block them all, and yet she found herself trying to do just that, her mind blanking as she threw herself into battle.

She'd always been called a prodigy, been told that she was the best because no one could match her. She had never once been proven wrong. Any firebender who was foolish to challenge her had always proven to be pitifully easy to beat, save for one. He uncle, however skilled he was, seemed to never have the will to beat her.

For the first time Azula felt that she was _out_matched by her opponent, and her confidence was flagging. As his rage built, the Fire Lord's flames began to shift in color, the cores of them turning blue with their greater heat. They moved faster, and Azula, already pressed, was beginning to tired.

It was time to leave.

"Snap out of it, Ty Lee," she cried, backing up in the face of the Fire Lord's onslaught. "We have to get out of here!"

Ty Lee shook herself, then turned. A blast of flame landed at her feet, but this time she did not freeze. Instead she leapt, flipping gracefully, confounding the aim of the Fire Nation guards that had entered behind them, alerted by Ozai's bellowing attacks. With grace she had used to wow thousands of spectators, she took the lead guard's head between her ankles and flipped him into the ones behind him.

Mai's throwing knives made kept the opening open, and Azula turned her back to the Nation's ruler, fleeing.

"You will not leave this chamber alive, you traitorous witch!" Ozai blasted the arch of the tall doorway, sending stone to block their path. Mai and Ty Lee made it out just beneath the rubble, but Azula was halted, temporarily. She turned, her mind racing, half of it distracted by what in the name of _agni_ she thought she was doing.

_I'm protecting my friends._ The thought came unbidden, and with it, a clarity she had not felt in some time. Her hands moved of their own accord, and without a cry, lightning arced from her extended fingers into her attacker's chest, knocking him back.

Then she turned, dove over the rubble, and made a run for freedom. Her father's angry shouts alerted her that she had done nothing more than make him angry. She was now like her brother and uncle: a fugitive, a traitor.

Instead of humiliation, she felt numb. She somehow knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, she would do the same again if she'd known how the Fire Lord would react.

* * *

Somehow they had found a boat, and somehow they had gotten on it without being recognized. It wasn't terribly hard. Azula had found a shift on a drying rock as they fled, and with her hair down and face turned, no one recognized her. Ty Lee was known moderately as a circus performer, and Mai was a governor's daughter. They would be announced traitors, but even news from the Fire Lord could not travel faster than they could flee for that night. Once they landed... wherever they were going, they would be hunted, but for this journey, this escape, they were safe enough.

Azula sat in their cabin as Mai and Ty Lee went for food. She could do nothing, think nothing. Her hands were shaking, her stomach roiling, and her eyes burned. She had never in her life felt as she felt at this time. She knew one thing; She didn't like it. Not one bit.

The door creaked, and she was up, instantly in a fighting stance, despite her feelings. The action seemed to cause her chest to compress, a feeling of panic, unfamiliar and uncontrolled, nearly sent a jet of flame at the doorway, as if the flame itself had willed it. Ty Lee stood, stock still in surprise.

Something in Azula's stance must have brought understanding to Ty Lee's mind. Instead of backing away, as most who knew Azula would have, she took three quick strides into the room and, unbidden, wrapped her arms around Azula.

The Princess stiffened at first, outraged, but the new emotions quickly won. She felt hot tears leave her eyes. Before she could stop it, she was weeping against Ty Lee's shoulder. Mai entered, gaped, and swallowed, visibly uncomfortable. Even so, she stepped in, closed the door, and rubbed Azula's back.

"So... embarrassing," sniffled the Princess. Ty Lee snorted.

"Whatever. What now?"

It was as if the outburst had never happened, except that Azula must have looked a mess, with water on her red face and her hair and clothes in disarray. She still felt shakey and afraid. However, the tears had released something. She could function again.

"We have to find the Avatar." She wiped at her cheeks, scowling at her fingers afterward, as if they affronted her.

Ty Lee and Mai looked at each other, Mai's eyebrow raising and Ty Lee looking weary. "Azula--"

"He's done _something_ to me!" Azula was ashamed to find that her words were not forceful as much as they were desperate. She swallowed, thickly, and grimaced. "He's done somethign to me, and I intend to find out what."

* * *

I feel MUCH better about this chapter :D Which means either it's good, or it's really, REALLY bad... ;)

Read, review, and I will love you all forever!


	6. Mother

It was midnight when Azula finally was able to calm herself enough to sit in one place. After her outburst, which neither Mai nor Ty Lee had brought up again, she found herself with an excess of energy. She'd attempted to spend most of it wandering the ship to find out where it was going.

The ship they were on was made of wood, which told Azula a lot about its country of origin. Fire Nation ships were metal. The Water Tribes used wood and skins in their ships. Air Nomads had used flying bison almost exclusively. She'd heard reports that they'd managed to make some kind of long-range version of the staff the Avatar flitted about on, but she'd believe that when she saw it.

Which she no longer could, she mused.

This ship was made almost completely of wood that had been carved to look like stone. Earth Kingdom. This suited her plans fine, although it caused a slight tremor in her as she remembered both her greatest victories and her one horrendous defeat. Nonetheless, the Avatar was there. She would find him, force him to reverse whatever was making her weaken, and take him to her father to be hung as an example of what rebellion brought.

She winced and pulled her thoughts away from that subject. Ty Lee and Mai slept peacefully, with Mai curled on her bedding, taking as little space as possible, and Ty Lee sprawled out over hers. Azula looked from her place against the wall, underneath a portal designed to let light in while it was daytime. These two were beginning to amaze her, taking the oddness that had been falling over Azula with magnificent aplomb. She only wished she knew what was actually happening to her. And why, against all instinct, part of her wanted to explore this strange new sensation.

_Friends_. She remembered thinking it during the battle, though the exact thought was a blur. Only that they were her friends and she would... feel deprived if they were ever gone. She would miss them. It was a new sensation for her.

She rested her chin on her knees, around which her arms were wrapped, and watched her... _friends_ ˆ the thought came again, so she allowed it. She watched her friends sleep, until she, too, fell into slumber.

* * *

_She found herself in a meadow, dappled in sunlight. The grass and trees were green and healthy. The sun was warm, inviting. She turned her face to it, smiling as it caressed her face. Her arms spread, almost of their own accord as she soaked in the glorious sunlight. _

_"Hello, my daughter." _

_The voice was not threatening, but Azula spun as if struck, her eyes wide as her mother stepped into the clearing she found herself in. Azula could feel the contemptuous sneer raising her lip, and fought to stop it until she realized she was quite a bit older than when she last saw this woman. _

_Ursa was dressed in a gown of pure white, and despite Azula's sneer, smiled warmly. The smile felt like a burn, as if Azula had suddenly spent too many hours in the sun, and she turned away from it. _

_"Mother," she hissed, looking, for lack of anything better to do, at her grey robes. Something struck her as odd about the color. Shouldn't her robes be red, or, like her father's, black. But that also made no sense; Her father was nowhere to be seen, so how would she know what color his robes would be? Nonetheless, as is the way in dreams (and she knew, deep down, that this was a dream. She had long since trained herself to at least be able to sense that. It was not proper for a princess to awaken screaming.) _

_"Azula," smiled Ursa, and Azula turned, glaring viciously. Ursa's face fell. Her tone, however, did not reflect any sort of disappointment or hurt at Azula's attitude. "You have a hard road ahead of you." _

_"Really? I hadn't noticed, with my father trying to kill my tra-- com--..." She swallowed thickly, and detected a waver in her voice that caused her heart to grow cold. "My friends." _

_"It is only beginning." Ursa took a step toward Azula, but made no further move to get closer. "I have watched you, my little one. Your journey is much like the one I took many years ago, when you were still too small to walk. And so I have watched." _

_"A lot of good it did to me!" Azula could not explain the anger she was feeling now, the sense of some old betrayal. She only knew that hearing this woman, who had disappeared so long ago, had still watched her hurt like peeling off dried blood from a wound. "You left! What good did it do for you to watch me when you couldn't _help_ me?!" Azula's fists clenched, and she shook with the restraint it took to keep from sending a fireball at the woman across from her. It would be a shame to ruin this wonderful place. _

_"I wanted to help many times, Azula. You weren't ready. You wouldn't have accepted my help if I'd been able to offer it." Ursa looked resigned, sad, but smiled. "You're almost ready now." _

_Azula swallowed thickly, scowling, unwilling to tolerate this woman she'd grown to hate. "So, what? Am I to be visited by three ghosts who will teach me the error of my ways?" _

_Ursa shook her head, looking down. "If I could, I would make sure that your journey were as easy as that. No, my little one... you are going to have to face some things much worse and much more frightening than ghosts..." _

_Before she could ask further, the clearing filled with light, and she felt herself drifting up, her questions unanswered, her mind more confused than when she fell asleep.

* * *

_

She awoke with a start, aware of her rapid heartbeat and sweat on her face. She pulled her arms around her leg and squinted toward the portal, which was almost white with the sunshine coming from outside. A touch on her shoulder caused her to jump.

"Good, you're awake," said Mai. "There's trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Azula stood up, stretching out kinks that sleeping in a sitting position against the wall had caused.

"We're at the port, but there's a lot of Fire Nation soldiers out there."

"So we fight." Mai merely blinked at her when a voice from behind made her turn.

"The problem is, we don't think they know we're going to be fugitives yet. If we fight now, they'll look for us sooner than if we just slip away." Ty Lee gestured at Azula's shift. "Even without your traditional robes, someone's going to recognize you."

"Mmm." Azula nodded, admiring her companion's grasp of the situation. Despite her anger and need to do something, anything, killing a lot of Fire Nation soldiers would be counterproductive, especially if they weren't aware of Azula's new status.

"I have a plan," Ty Lee said, looking Azula in the eye in a way that made the former princess suddenly wary.

"What?" she asked, a warning tone in her voice.

"If there was any other way ˆ"

Mai cut in. "I told you she wouldn't like it, Ty."

Azula backed off a step, narrowing her eyes. "What is it?"

She looked back and forth between her two companions, Ty Lee with a huge, hopeful grin on her face, Mai with a small, amused smile. She didn't know which was scarier.

"I hate you both."

"Oh, come on, Azula, no one likes a grumpy jester!" Ty Lee was putting the finishing ouches on some rather bold strokes of color that now adorned Azula's scowling face. Mai looked on from behind the small hand mirror she held, trying, without much success, to keep a smile from breaking her normal bored expression.

"Why do I have to be the jester?!" Azula glared at the broad red lipped and yellow-faced Jester woman staring back at her from the mirror. How had she let them talk her into this? The plan had seemed very feasible until Ty Lee had brought the sticky face paint from behind her back with a wide-eyed grin.

"Well, I'm still the best acrobat, no offense," she said the last two words in a rush, and Azula smirked at the image of a younger Ty Lee being pushed down when she'd bested Azula in her contortions. "And Mai can juggle," Mai sighed noisily, rolling her eyes. "Besides, this will cover your face. No one could pick you out. Not even your own brother!"

The horribly wretched part of the explanation, Azula mused, was that Ty Lee was right. The make-up covered her face rather well. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and hung her head. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

* * *

A/N: I have a confession to make. When I wrote the first chapter, I only intended it to be a one shot. Which is why the second, third, and fourth chapters are rife with insecurity and dobut. Chapter 5 gave me a nice climactic scene which gave me a little confidence. But it is this chapter that actually begins Azula's change. My muse has finally shared with me where this story will eventually flow. I only hope the trip is as smooth for me to write as it is bumpy for Azula to actually travel :D

I also must thank my betas, Oklina and Invaderk, who are acting as betas and therefore increasing the quality of the story I post here. On the downside, it will delay posts by about 24 hours. But, then, my posts weren't exactly on a set schedule anyway.


	7. Laughter

Azula could admit that she was young by most standards. In her mind, that was what made her the prodigy that everyone said she was. She was young, and had accomplished so much already. She was nearly matchless as a Firebender. She was a cunning and accomplished strategist. She had already conquered two major cities that had eluded other generals for years, including the vaunted Dragon of the West.

Even so, she knew that she was young, yet, and that there were many new experiences to be had. Based on her past experiences, she had a lot to look forward to.

She leapt forward, tucking her chin low and rolling in a somersault, only to land flat on her back and sit up in an exaggeratedly confused manner. "What was THAT?!"

The audience roared with laughter, and Azula was forced to grit her teeth in what she could only hope was a silly grin. When she thought of new experiences, this humiliation was not what she had in mind.

"Thank you, thank you," rang out Ty Lee's voice. ""Feel free to come back tomorrow, at the same time! Your patronage is appreciated!"

The audience clapped and rose as the three of them, Mai having put away her longest knives after her juggling act, bowed and collected the coins thrown at them. _Reduced to so much begging,_ Azula thought bitterly, not for the first time.

"Hi!"

Azula had been in mid-bow when the tiny voice sounded, and she turned, looking about for it. A quick downward glance revealed the dirty face of a six-year-old girl. The girl giggled and raised a hand in greeting. "I'm Warau!"

Azula blinked at her, and the little girl giggled again. Something in Azula stirred, and she knelt down, casting a wary eye on her. "Do your parents know you're hear, little one?"

As if by magic, the little girl's smile melted from her face, and her head lowered so that her messy hair covered her face. "My parents are gone."

Azula swallowed, her heart suddenly sinking. The little girl continued, mercilessly, her soft voice like little darts to Azula's chest. "We were in Omashu when the Fire Nation came. A lot of soldiers were shooting fires everywhere, and I ran. After that, I couldn't find mommy or daddy anymore."

"Stop," Azula said, her chest tight. Warau looked up and blinked, large fat tears in her eyes. Impulsively, Azula reached out and swiped them away as they fell. "You didn't come here to be sad, did you?" She smiled the best she could, as Ty Lee had taught her, with a lopsided, wide eyes, confused look on her face, and Warau giggled. The tight feeling began to leave Azula's chest, as if carried away by the child's laughter. Azula rose to her feet, circling the girl, then began to walk an imaginary tightrope, wobbling crazily as she feigned imbalance.

"What are you doing?"

"Can't you see? I'm walking this tightrope!" She indicated around herself as if it were obvious. "It's very scary, though, and very, very high up." Suddenly, she gasped, pointing at Warau. "How did you get up so high?!"

Warau giggled. "I don't know!"

Azula wobbled again, making a face that she thought might look frightened. "Well, it's a good thing you're on that platform and not out on the rope like I am! My friend told the ringmaster to take down the net and let animals loose down there!"

"That's not a very nice friend," Warau declared, giggling. Another pang stabbed at Azula's chest, but she ignored it this time.

"She was only trying to help, I think," she murmured. _Help herself, you mean,_ came a mental voice that sounded, annoyingly, like her brother.

"Do you want me to help you?" This voice came from the side, and Azula spun, this time almost losing her balance for real, and caught the gaze of a very amused Mai.

"Um," she said, intelligently, then pointed. "That little girl is helping me. Sort of." Warau giggled, then held out her hands. It was a sweet gesture, and it caused Azula to pause for a moment. She finally wobbled over to the girl and collapsed dramatically when she reached the "platform". Warau dissolved into fits of laughter as Mai walked over.

"I need to talk to this one. Do you have a place to stay?" Mai tilted her head, and Warau nodded vigorously.

"There's a lady who takes care of us. She's very nice."

"Run along, please. You can visit more tomorrow."

Azula honestly expected Warau to protest, and for a moment it seemed she would. Then she nodded and waved to them. "OK, see you tomorrow!" She dashed off, long, slightly unkempt hair streaming behind her.

Azula sat up to meet the golden eyes of her usually quiet companion. Mai was smirking. That alone set off warning alarms in Azula's head.

"Cute kid."

Azula huffed. "She was crying." She crossed her arms and studied the ground beneath her. "She lost her parents in the Omashu takeover."

"Ah," Mai intoned, as if that explained everything. "Well, anyway, _Shagua_," Mai said with a smirk, "I have news."

"I still don't like that name," Azula muttered while standing. "Lead on, _Jun_."

* * *

"OK," Ty Lee started, pointing at their map. "We know they left Ba Sing Se in a big hurry. The Avatar was hurt, so they got away fast. The flying bison made it hard to track them of course." She traced a lone across the map. "This is where we fought them last, in a little village not far from the city." She coughed, glancing at Azula, then nodded and went on when Azula waved her on impatiently. "Mai — Sorry, Jun's information has tracked them this way." She painted a line in red paint down the map, tracing a curved route. "I think they're going to Kyoshi Island."

"Why?" Azula leaned forward, tracing the line back and forth with her eyes. Mai answered her.

"It's the closest army they can trust." Mai's eyes were also on the line, tracing it, narrowing as she tried to put herself in the minds of their quarry.

Ty Lee nodded. "The only question is, why would they want an army so quickly? A small army like the one on Kyoshi isn't going to do much with a group of Firebenders surrounding you."

Mai nodded. "Especially with Sozen's Comet on its way.

Azula's heart started to pound. "The eclipse."

Both girls turned to her, and Azula sat back, closing her eyes. "They found out about the eclipse."

Ty Lee's eyes were wide. "Do you think Zuko told them?"

Azula looked at her, sideways, then back at the map. "No. He'd be too ashamed, giving them such a weapon to use against his own people. Iroh wouldn't, either." She leaned back, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "But once they knew about it, if they really have turned against our father... they wouldn't hesitate to help them plan it."

"And one of them is probably teaching the Avatar Firebending."

Silence reigned in the little room for a little while, until Ty Lee spoke up. "So which side are we on?"

Azula opened her eyes, staring at the map, and sighed. "I don't know."

* * *

The next performance was to be their last in that city. "We'll need to keep performing, though. We haven't any money otherwise." As always, Azula thought Ty Lee was far too cheerful about the prospect. Even so, she found herself oddly proud that she'd put her make up on without Ty Lee's help.

She was also beginning to take some joy in the audience's laughter, despite the fact that she had to act like a fool to do it. It helped that Warau was in the front of the crowd, and that her clear, ringing laughter was the loudest. She had looked forward to seeing the girl again, and was sad to think that, once the trio moved on, she would not see the girl again.

After the show, Warau walked boldly up to her and hugged her, causing Azula to freeze, at first. "I'll miss you, Shagua," the girl whispered, holding back tears.

"Oh. I'll miss you, too." She meant it, to her surprise. "But friends never leave each other, right?"

Warau nodded, wiping one tear away across her dirty face, then smiled, tremulously. "Right. They're always here," she whispered, pointing to her chest.

"And here," Azula nodded, pointing to her head. "In our thoughts, and in our feelings."

Warau beamed at her, launching herself into a hug that, this time, Azula returned with just as much force.

* * *

Mai came into the room where Azula was changing out of her costume. Azula looked up, having just started to take off the yellow face paint she used to disguise herself in her role of the Jester. "We're ready. We leave first thing in the morning."

"Good." Azula stretched. "Let's get a good night's sleep be–"

An explosion cut her off, and Azula looked out the window. The village was on fire. Fire Nation soldiers were going house to house, and one of them had launched a humongous fireball into the largest house on their block. A woman was screaming at him, a sound filled with terror and rage.

"The children are still in there! They're just orphans! They've suffered enough!"

"Then their suffering will end soon," the soldier laughed.

A scream sounded over the roar of the flame, and Azula's heart froze. "Warau!" Before she could think, she had launched herself out of the window, hurtling down the road and into the flaming building.

* * *

A/N: Cliffhanger'd!!

I apologize for taking too long. It took a while for my muse to give me a direction in Azula's path. Once I got one, I worked for days just writing this. (Between work duties and game time, of course).

I haven't been told Ty Lee's name yet (Muses are a fickle lot) but Mai's name of Jun was just too good a coincidence to pass up. Azula's alias, Shagua, means "Fool" in Chinese. Warau means "laugh" in Japanese.

Speaking of Warau... I can't decide what to do with her yet. So... I will leave it to a vote. The question is simple: Will Warau live, or will she die?

I will ONLY entertain votes given to me through Private Message. Any votes done in comments will be considered a vote for the opposite. Why? Because I can and will be evil (and because I don't want to give away the result before the story is written, which any smart person can do just by counting votes in the comment field! )

Thank you for reading. I hope this is good enough for my readers. If it is not, then I have failed (a minor one, but a failure all the same) as an author.


	8. Grief

A/N1: It was a tie, which means I had to make the decision myself. Which is pretty ironic, since most of the reason I put it up to a vote was to avoid that decision.

* * *

She had dashed past the guards so quickly that they hadn't had time to stop her, barely time to acknowledge her presence. Despite the fact that they were Firebenders, it was obvious they would not risk chasing her into an already burning structure. More the fool them.

Azula thrust the fire away from her, working her way down the halls, casting her eyes back and forth as she worked her way through the inferno. The wails of the woman who had taken in the orphans of Omashu receded through the sounds of the blaze. The guards were yelling at something, most probably her, but she ignored them.

"Warau!" She inhaled smoke after the call and coughed, impatiently waving the fire away. Her face was hot, and she swiped at it. Her fingers came away yellow.

"Great," she murmured, still casting about in each room for the little girl. "That's going to be hard to remove n-"

Her heart caught in her throat. In the middle of the largest room was a dark shape, underneath a large beam. Dark hair lay fanned around in front of the shape, and Azula rushed in, pushing fire away from her as she did so. She knelt, feeling the shape, her heart pounding. It was a child.

She pulled as hard as she could, then, in a fit of frustrated anger, blasted the beam with a jet of blue flame, disintegrating enough of it that she could push the rest away from the child.

She pulled her out and turned her over.

Warau's eyes were closed, he shirt and some of her torso horribly burnt. Her body was still, limp.

"No."

Azula's heart pounded harder and harder as her fingers sought the girl for some sign of life.

"No, please, _Agni_, please not this."

She touched the little girl's face, practically willing her to open her eyes, laugh, and reach out and hug her. Her face was still in death, unmarred save for a streak of soot at her left cheek.

A droplet fell onto the streak, sending a dark rivulet running down the little girl's cheek, then another. Azula pulled Warau's body close to her and heard rather than felt the keening sob bursting from her own chest.

A piece of burning tatami hit her in the shoulder, shocking her, bringing her back to a semblance of rationality. She had to get out of there. She could Bend the fire away, but the building collapsing would still kill her.

She clutched Warau to her and began to retrace her steps to the exit. The house was groaning, as if it, too, were mourning the death of the child. Chunks of clay and wood fell from the ceiling, dropping behind Azula like tears of flame. Despite the path she had cleared, it was harder to make her way out because new flames had sprouted where the old ones had been forced away. She was hampered by her hold on the child, but she would not let go.

For one wild, almost eternal moment, she considered staying in the building, letting it collapse on her. She had never felt so adrift.

_"I told you the way would be hard."_

_Azula turned, lifting her hands and willing flames to thrust at the figure behind her. Nothing happened._

_Ursa stared back at her, unperturbed, but with the saddest of expressions on her face. "I'm sorry that it came to this, my daughter. If I had known--"_

_"You're telling me you _didn't_ know?! You're telling me this wasn't somehow planned?! Abi take you, _'mother'_, you knew all along!"_

_Ursa nodded sadly, looking, for a brief time, like a mirror of the Avatar that day when her torment started, both infinitely wise and infinitely sad. "I only knew your path would be hard, and that you would suffer. I didn't know..." She put her hand on her face, and Azula felt her anger drain from her._

_"She was just a girl. She was just a little girl. And she laughed."_

_"I'm sorry, my child." Somehow, Ursa was there, stroking her hair, and Azula did not want her to stop. She heard a tiny, childlike voice whisper to her mother, and realized that it was her own._

_"Am I dead?"_

_"No." Ursa knelt and tilted Azula's chin to face her. "Time has no meaning here. But you should hurry. Your friends are worried about you."_

_Azula stood, turning away from her mother, surveying the landscape around her. "It was warmer last time I was here."_

_"It will be warm again." Ursa stepped forward, and Azula heard her voice very close to her ear. "I know you are hurting, my little love. But I am proud of you for the path you are walking now."_

A crack and a shout snapped Azula out of her fugue, and she leapt through an opening between a burning mass and the door, landing on her feet, still clutching Warau. A keening cry that seemed to echo the painful buzzing in her chest came from her left, and she turned to face the matron, whose hands were on her face in horror.

Azula stepped forward and knelt, laying the child carefully at the matron's feet. "There was nothing I could do," she choked out, feeling hot tears on her face once more.

A cruel voice sounded from behind her. "Looks like you've one less mouth to feed."

"The others," cried the woman, unheeding of the Fire Nation soldier. "Where are the others?"

"There aren't any others," Azula said, her head spinning. She had heard the soldier's cruel comment, and her vision began to burn. "I felt air. I think they got out. Look behind the house."

"They're safe," came Ty Lee's voice, strained and angry, but otherwise clear. "Jun and I found them crawling out of the window and took them to the Inn."

Azula turned as Ty Lee grunted, seeing a group of soldiers around her, on the ground, and another flying from her outstretched foot. Her top was burnt, but she looked unharmed. Similarly, Mai was locked in a throwing battle with a Firebending soldier, her knives slicing the air after each fireball passed her.

The cruel voice came from her left. "Good riddance."

Azula turned, her lip curled into a snarl, and before the man could take a step either away or toward her, a blue gout of flame engulfed him, drowning out his scream and leaving nothing in its wake.

All movement stopped as the Fire Nation soldiers gaped at the space where their commander had stood. Two of them stepped back, dropping their arms, trembling hands splaying in a universal sign of surrender. Four more, however, advanced on Azula.

They launched fireballs at her, spread in a pattern that would prevent dodging. To take control of another bender's fire was difficult, but Azula's hand swept out and around in an easy motion, and the fire turned back on their owners, hastily blocked or hitting their surprised marks.

One bender thrust his arms forward, then back, in an intricate pattern which sent a web of fire at Azula. She leapt straight up, screaming a battle cry, and landed on the other side of it, thrusting her own hands out in rapid motions. The soldier screamed as blue fire jets erupted around him, burning him, melting his armor and face mask, sending him fleeing toward the water supply.

His comrades followed him at a tumbling run, and Azula felt an hand touch her arm. She spun, but Ty Lee's face was all that she saw.

"How much do we have?" Her voice was raspy and tight in her throat.

Ty looked her in the eyes, then pulled a pouch from her belt. "That's half."

Azula turned without a word and walked to the sobbing matron. She dropped the pouch between the woman and the body of the little girl, her throat constricting as she took in the little face one more time. "Bury her well. Rebuild if there's enough. But bury her well."

She turned and walked away, her feet like lead. She had gotten less than a meter when a hard object hit her in the back, causing her to stumble forward. She heard the distinct sound of coins clinking together.

"I will not take money from Fire Nation scum who kills children!"

Azula's heart dropped, and she screwed her face against a wail. A small part of her, a quiet, tinny, shrill voice screamed at her to engulf the woman like she had the Commander. Her hands clenched into fists, and her breathing became rapid.

It would solve nothing, she knew. It would hurt more people than the gratification could possibly justify. The children, living and likely frightened, would live as outcasts.

A sharp voice cut through the haze of her rage. "Grow up!" Swift, near silent footsteps receded behind her, and she heard a choked gasp. "This woman risked her life to try to save that little girl! She gave up everything just to avenge her! You will do as she asks because she's EARNED it, or I will gut you right here and now."

She thought she heard a drops of water on the ground, and the sudden tang smell confirmed her suspicion. Mai's voice came back to her, filled with low disgust. "Then you'll clean yourself up and get the children."

Mai strode toward them and steered Azula away.

"You didn't-"

"She soiled herself," Mai whispered, still tinged with disgust. Ty Lee choked back a wet giggle, then apologized softly.

"What now," Mai asked, low and soothing.

"We find the Avatar." Azula could all but see the stares of her friends, resigned, uncomprehending, possibly disappointed. So she clarified.

"We have to help him stop this damned war."

* * *

All around the Fire Nation occupied lands, posters were pasted on each community board and post. They held a picture of a yellow face surrounded by wild black hair, golden eyes practically glowing.

All of them read the same thing down the left side. "Wanted for the death of Fire Nation Soldiers: The Yellow Demon."

* * *

A/N: I'm going to go off and cry now. 

Abi is as close as I can come to finding the name of Hell as we know it in Chinese Lore. It is the name of the level where souls are tortured.

The "Not Sad" version will be put up as a separate one shot fic.


	9. Azula Alone

Days were hazy now. She knew she was at sea, and she knew that it had been sometime. She could not count the differenced between light and dark, nor could she put a name to the separations that they noted. She could barely acknowledge that many lights had turned to many darks, and that her friends (she clung to the word now, hard, and would not think of them in any other way again) visited her unceasingly.

As much as she had come to rely on her friends, she wished they would stop coming. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve something as sacred as friends. She had failed. Somehow. She'd forgotten how by now, even though she'd told herself not to, because to forget would mean going back to her old self. Even though she'd forgotten, it was more of a relief than she'd ever thought it would be.

She felt her eyes get heavy, and for once there were no images of a cherub faced little girl in her arms, already growing cold despite a raging inferno around them. For once, there was the peace Oblivion could bring, and she found herself embracing it.

* * *

_Water lapped at her feet, and for one wild moment, she thought the boat had sunk. The thought did not bring the type of alarm imminent drowning should bring, however. Ironically, that alarmed her._

_Azula sat up and looked around. The landscape resembled little more than a bog, and she blinked in confusion. It had a familiar air about it, but she could not recognize it by it's appearance. It was more like a feeling to her._

_She pulled her feet from the muck and sat up. No one else was around, but creatures flew above and crawled around and past her, at times disappearing or blending into the background foliage. It was a swamp, but with rocky outcroppings and winds that she had never felt in a swamp. The air around her was damp and cool, yet she could hear the hiss and pop of geysers nearby._

_She stood on the rocky shelf and looked a round, squinting her eyes at the bright light above her. She could see the form of a man in the mist, gradually growing clearer, until he stopped at the bank of the morass between him and her outcropping._

_"Hello," he said, his face smiling, a calm on his features unlike she'd seen in a long time. The man had his dark hair done in the traditional Fire Nation style, and was wearing a Fire Nation uniform. He reached up and brushed some dust off his shoulder as he waited for her to reply. When it became evident she would not, he began again._

_"You're new here. At least, I haven't seen you around before. You look oddly familiar though." As if by magic, he disappeared from the bank and appeared next to her, just close enough for her to make out his features. His eyes widened in surprise._

_"Oh, man. Azula? Are you supposed to be here?" The question was tinged with sadness, even worry, and Azula found herself wondering. She looked at her hands, which seemed thin to her, then up at the man._

_"Where is 'here'?" She asked, swallowing thickly, which did nothing for her dry throat._

_"The spirit world, of course? What happened? Why are you here? Your mother is going to be so disappointed!"_

_"Mother?" She grasped at the word. A familiar person, and this man knew of her. "Is my mother near? I have to talk to her." To her dismay, she found her throat tightening up, and she swallowed. Again, it did nothing to ease the tightness._

_"I don't know where she is right now. What happened? What brought you here, Azula?"_

_Azula took a step back, wary now. Somehow, though she knew it shouldn't be a surprise, this person knew her name. She narrowed her eyes, putting her hands out before her, ready to blast this person for one wrong move. "Who are you," she demanded, her voice somehow stronger._

_The man smiled. "First, that won't work here. Second, I look exactly the same as when you last saw me, give or take a wrinkle or two. You've grown."_

_Azula frowned, then her eyes widened. "Lu Ten? Cousin?" She stepped back, and this time she did fall off the outcropping, falling into the muddy bog with a resounding splash._

_Her cousin laughed uproariously, and Azula narrowed her eyes, sending a splash of water in his direction. He was hit full in the face, but kept laughing._

_"It's nice to know your humor hasn't changed much, Azu," he said with a muddy smile. "Although you didn't try to actually hurt me this time. Lightening up in our advanced age, are we?"_

_Something in Lu Ten's friendly gaze brought a lump to her throat. His eyes were the same color as Warau's, and she felt heat rising in her eyes. She snuffled, and before she knew it Lu Ten wa next to her, hauling her from the muck and hugging her tight. _

_"What happened?"_

_Azula could not speak for several minutes, but her cousin's arms were warm and safe and she let herself calm before she tried to answer. "I... it's a long story."_

_"Depending on why you're here, cousin, we may have the time for it."_

_She swallowed, and it seemed to work this time, easing the dryness and pain in her throat. "I don't know." She said. "Am I dead?" She had asked the same question before, and again wondered if she'd mind if the answer was yes._

_"I don't know. I mean, the living can enter the Spirit World. We get the Avatar from time to time. I hear he used to be a regular, lifetimes ago. But we can draw people in, in times of stress, or if they're sleeping.. I've done that with Father a few times, but I don't think he recognized the place. He's been here once on his own. Did you try to get here on your own?" He smiled, teasing her, but she shook her head quickly._

_"No. I haven't done much on my own since..." She sighed, closing her eyes against tears. "I'm on the run from Ozai. He tried to kill my friends, and... I met a little girl while we were in disguise." She turned her face from Lu Ten, trying in vain to keep herself from breaking down. "She was killed not long ago. We were... she..."_

_"It makes sense. You fell apart... You? Princess Azula of the Fire Nation?" His words were harsh, but his tone was not. It was, in fact, kind, gentle. Understanding. "Would it help to know that she's safe?"_

_"Who," she asked, confused by his kindly spoken rebuke._

_"Warau," he said, smiling, and her head spun._

_"She's here? She's sa-" Her throat tightened. "She's safe?"_

_"Yes. In fact, she's met your mother. They get along famously."_

_Azula staggered a bit, putting a shaking hand to her head. "Good. That's... that's good." Her knees felt weak, and she knew if she tried to step forward, she would fall._

_"Do you want to see her?"_

_She looked up, then laughed, bitterly. "Haven't I done enough?"_

_"What do you mean?" Lu Ten's face was innocent, puzzled, and Azula swallowed._

_"I was the one who killed her parents. Inadvertently, but I did it. And then I couldn't..." She swallowed again. "I couldn't save her."_

_"But you tried." There was no confusion in his voice. Instead is was as if he was teaching her something. "You risked your physical life to try to save her. And you feel true remorse for her loss. That means something, little cousin."_

_Azula shook her head, looking down at her hands. "It isn't enough."_

_Lu Ten knelt next to her, putting an arm around her waist and guiding her to stand. "If you're looking for there to be an 'enough', you're going to be here a long time. We're human, cousin. There is never 'enough' for us. We can't make war 'enough'. When we're tired of making war, we can't possibly atone 'enough'."_

_Azula looked up at him, stricken. She felt her eyes spill over. "Then what is the use?"_

_"Let me tell you a little secret, and if it doesn't make sense now, trust me that it will when you're older. Like, my dad older." His eyes twinkled. "When you want to atone, and you really try hard, it feels like it's not good enough. When you have spent your whole life trying to do more, make up for everything you feel you've done bad, and find that you're on your death bed and have done everything you possibly could to make up for all of it... then you'll realize... it was always enough."_

_Azula blinked at him, and Lu Ten smiled and shrugged. "In short, do all you can, and you'll have done enough to atone."_

_"AZULA!"_

_The clear, joyous cry distracted Azula and she turned, wide eyed as she watched a child sprint toward her, arms open, laughing joyously. Before she could possibly run, (and she wanted to, so badly she wanted to run and hide her shame), Warau had impacted with her chest, hugging her fiercely._

_For a moment, she was tense, stiff. Then she wrapped her arms around the child and began to weep, whispering her apologies over and over, stroking the silky child-hair on the little girl's head._

_"It's OK, Azula. I'm happy. I didn't understand at first, but the nice lady helped me." Warau put her hands on either side of Azula's face. "Don't be sad anymore, please?"_

_Azula nodded, then froze. "You... you called me Azula." She swallowed. "You... how did you know?"_

_"I told her."_

_Azula spun, but instead of her usual tense reaction, she found herself smiling. "Mother."_

_"There are no lies here, so I had to tell her the truth. I hope it's all right."_

_Azula shook her head. "It's all right. She would have found out anyway."_

_"But you're different now!" Warau's eyes were wide, a child innocently defending a beloved friend. "I told her so! You weren't mean or anything!"_

_Azula laughed, then sniffed. The tightness in her chest and throat were gone. "You're right. I have changed. And I'm still changing. But I don't think I'd want to stay the way I was."_

_Ursa smiled at her, and Lu Ten chuckled. "Well... you should get back. Your friends are worried about you. And unlike when your mother caught you last time, Time is moving ahead."_

_"You're weakening, daughter."_

_Azula sighed, ashamed and angry because of it. "I let myself get weak."_

_Warau blew a raspberry, and Azula, surprised, looked at her. "It's **OK** to mess up _sometimes_," she said, sternly, and Azula couldn't help but laugh. The laughter sobered quickly._

_"I'll miss you, Warau."_

_"Me too. But I'll always be here," she said, putting her little hand on Azula's heart, "and here," then moving her hand to Azula's forehead._

_"That's right. In my heart, and in my thoughts."_

_"Tiem to go, cousin," breathed Lu Ten, already fading as Azula began to rise, slowly and then faster, toward a deep yellow light. She watched as long as she could, her eyes fastened tight to Warau's waving hand.

* * *

_

With a gasp and a sputter, she woke up, wiping her eyes, feeling the dry tracks of salt from tears shed as she slept. She sat up, fighting a wave of dizziness, then stood. It was not easy to walk across the deck to the doorway. She felt weak and shaky. But she made the walk to the lighted cabin outside of the room she was in, seeing Mai and Ty Lee hunched over a small table, two untouched bowls of stew between them.

"Hey."

Her voice was raspy, dry, and she cleared her throat. Her friends were like owlscats, gawking at her with wide eyes.

"I'm hungry," she said plainly, then turned to go back and lay down.

The two were in her room before she reached the bedroll, Ty Lee carrying a lantern, Mai with a bowl of steaming... something.

"Do you need help, or can you eat it alone?" Mai's voice trembled ever so slightly.

Azula flexed her fingers, then sighed. "I can probably eat alone. I suppose you'd better be here in case I'm wrong."

Ty Lee looked at Mai alarmed, and Mai glanced side long at Ty Lee.

Mai placed the bowl in Azula's lap with a wide wooden spoon. Azula grasped the spoon hungrily, pulling it toward her mouth.

She felt the warm liquid pour down her throat, but nothing of substance. It was soothing, but her stomach protested.

"What is this?"

"Broth," came Mai's deep voice.

"I'm _hungry,_" she said, as if speaking to a small child.

_"Broth,"_ Mai said insistantly.

Azula frowned. "How long was I..?"

"Two weeks," Ty Lee sniffed. Azula gaped.

"Two _weeks_?! _Agni_, I'm sorry."

Again, Mai glanced sideways at Ty Lee while the other girl looked at Mai in alarm.

"Would you two stop that?! It's annoying."

Ty Lee looked relieved. "Yep. It's still Azula."

Azula rolled her eyes. "I need something more than this, Mai. I know," she said, stopping Mai's protest, "But I need to get my strength back quickly. We must be almost all the way to Kyoshi by now." Ty Lee nodded.

"Fine. But you drink the rest of that first, and then we'll see."

"Yes, mother."

Ty Lee squeaked. "A _joke_! She made a joke! What's _happened_ to you, Azula?!"

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

Azula regained her strength quickly, partially because of sheer determination, and partially because of the care that her friends took of her. She hardly dreamed at night when she slept, which she counted as a blessing. She still remembered, vividly, the nightmares that plagued her while she was ill. 

Ty Lee brought her up to speed on current events. If the Avatar had left Kyoshi Island, no one had seen or heard of it. There were also rumors that with the fall of Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom was rapidly coming under Fire Nation control. It was possible, even likely, that Kyoshi Island was the last holdout against Fire Nation rule.

Azula took it all in. The hardest part wouldn't be any battles they'd have to engage in. The hardest part would be contacting the Avatar and getting him to trust the person who was, modesty aside, his greatest nemesis since Zhao.

It was days later that they landed at the port of Kyoshi Island. And that is when their warriors attacked.

* * *

A/N: This was a long one, but it's length, I think, is warranted. Azula had a lot to work with and not a lot of time to do it.

Many thanks to Invaderk and Oklina who are good sports and listen to me whine about the last chapter. :D Also, RadiantBeam, who inspired, and Forlorn Maiden, who, with the previous mentioned, continue to encourage me with every comment.


	10. Tripped

It was a split second before the battle started, and, as always, it stretched for far longer than it seemed possible.

In a heartbeat, green clad, white faced women charged up the ramp, fans held back and loose, ready to slash forward from almost any direction.

In the same heartbeat, Ty Lee was airborne, somehow finding the height to impose her body between the sun and their attackers, drawing unwary and unpracticed eyes into the sunlight and temporary blindness.

In the same heartbeat, knives flew from behind her into the crowd of warriors, who had rushed onto the platform and unwittingly snarled themselves into a chokepoint.

A strong voice called out for them to stop, retreat, and assemble. The voice was tinged with frustration, and Azula had a little trouble tracing it. She knew it was familiar, however.

Many warriors limped, some rubbed their eyes, and all looked sheepish. Ty Lee landed, blinking, then inexplicably smiled. Mai rolled her eyes and worked on retrieving the knives that had been blocked by fans. Azula and Ty Lee followed her down the ramp to wait at the bottom.

"What were you thinking?! I told you, wait until _all_ the passengers had disembarked! The captain is going to _kill_ me." The voice was deep, intercut with the odd break as the blue clad, dark-skinned young man berated the young women assembled before him. "And you, Minori, you lead your group right to a choke point. You can't let yourself get clotted like that. Sayuki, you should go back and get that taken care of, it's not deep, but it's going to sting for a while. You too, Ayashi."

Ty lee was still grinning, and it was the grin more than anything that made it click who this was. The Water Tribe warrior. He was just now turning toward the ramp, coming toward it, presumably to apologize for giving them such a scare. He was cursing at the ground under his breath, and as such did not look up until he reached them.

This was going to be fun.

The warrior stopped in front of them, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Look, I'm sorry. This was supposed to be a training exercise, and they got a little... anxious." He finally looked up, still talking before he realized exactly who he was seeing, at which point, his mouth went slack.

"Hi, handsome," Ty Lee crooned, batting her eyes.

"Aw, dang," the warrior sighed. He stepped back, reaching behind him for his boomerang, and nearly bumped into Mai. Wisely, he froze.

"Relax," Azula said, putting her hands in front of her, palms up, fingers splayed. "We're not here to fight."

The boy's eyes narrowed, then widened as she spoke the next words.

"We're here to surrender."

"We're _what_?"

Azula's eyes sparkled. "Take us to your leader, warrior."

* * *

"This is stupid." Mai was, as usual, both depressing and astute. 

"It could be worse," Ty Lee said, looking around the hut they had been stashed in. "They could have used chains." She pulled her arms apart as far as she could, demonstrating the rope that held them apart. She looked just a tiny bit smug, as they had all had their hands tied behind their backs and she had made a point to bring her arms forward as soon as the doors were closed.

"That's my point," Mai drawled, bringing her arms forward, holding two pieces of rope in her hands. "If they were _smart_, they _would _have used chains. Then we couldn't escape."

Azula sighed. "We're not _going_ to escape." She leaned back against the wall, watching Ty Lee slip out of the ropes with seeming ease. She could have done the same as Ty Lee, but it would have involved a lot of pain and whining when her shoulder slipped it's socket. "We want to see the Avatar, and this is the fastest way."

"I guess so." Ty Lee smirked. "_You_ want to see the Avatar. _I_ want to see that Water Warrior cutie that 'captured' us."

Mai and Azula rolled their eyes at each other.

"What? I'm just saying, he can tie me up any time he wants to."

"That's... that's just too much information." Mai looked as if she would turn green if it were at all possible.

"Like you wouldn't do the same thing with Zuko, hmmm?" Ty Lee's face was wicked, smiling at Mai's discomfort.

"Ew," Azula breathed.

The door opened, and all three stood, with only Azula's hands still behind her. The figure silhouetted in the bright sunlight was tall, imposing, and bound to give a thrill to one of Azula's companions.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Oh," Azula sighed, bringing her hands forward and wiping the ashes from her wrists. "It's only you."

Zuko stepped in, narrowing his one good eye. "Ropes? They used ropes?" Ty Lee held hers up, twirling it around by the knot. "And you let them?"

"We need to see the Avatar," Azula said, shrugging. "It seemed the easiest way."

"The Avatar isn't interested in treachery or tricks." Zuko leaned against the doorway, still blocking their way out, but affecting a posed carefully calculated to look bored. It was, in Azula's estimation, pathetic.

"Oh, Zuzu, Are you licking the Avatar's feet now that Father's finally rejected you? A shame, really."

Zuko tensed, clenching his fists, then relaxed. "As I understand it, I'm not the only family member he's rejected. We're in the same boat, so to speak," he said, his tone reflecting an almost forced calm.

Azula tensed. "How did you find out?"

"I have ways. Uncle Iroh found out." Zuko shrugged. "I'm not interested in tricks either, Azu. The guards will bring you food when the sun goes down."

"Wait, Zuzu," Azula said, grabbing his elbow. Zuko glared down at her hand, then back at her. "No more tricks. No more games. I promise."

"I've heard your promises before, Azu."

"If you won't believe her," began Mai, approaching from behind Azula, "Believe me. We could have gotten out of here at any time. You know this. She waited for you." Mai bent in close, looking directly into Zuko's eyes. "She's changed, Zuko. We all have, in a way, but she's changed the most."

Azula closed her eyes, sighed, and whispered. "I tripped, Zuzu. Hard. I need the Avatar's help."

Zuko looked between Mai and Azula, then at Ty Lee, who had shown up at Azula's other side. Finally he straightened up. "I'll ask."

The door was closed, and Azula slumped a bit. "Just as easy as I thought it would be."

* * *

When the door opened again, the sun had fallen. Three figures slipped in, closed the door, and one, the Waterbender, lit a candle. 

The Avatar knelt on the ground, his feet tucked beneath him, and arched a brow. The third, the blind Earthbender, did not look directly at them, but seemed to be concentrating.

"Hello, Azula. I've been told you need my help. What can I do for you?"

* * *

A/N: Once again, thank you to Invaderk for much help! Betas rock! 


	11. Confrontations

_The Avatar knelt on the ground, his feet tucked beneath him, and arched a brow. The third, the blind Earthbender, did not look directly at them, but seemed to be concentrating._

_"Hello, Azula. I've been told you need my help. What can I do for you?"_

She could only stare at him. This warrior with the child's face. This shrewd adversary with intelligent, grey eyes and small stature, innocently looking at her without malice, without anger. She had nearly killed him (thought, in fact, that she _had_ killed him), and yet he looked at her with an open expression, willing to hear her.

"What did you do to me?"

The voice that had said it was halting, tight, and when she swallowed she realized that it was her own voice. The Avatar blinked and looked at her quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

The Waterbender's hands were clenched, and _she _looked at Azula with open hostility. This was much easier to face than the Avatar's vulnerable yet ancient eyes. "I've... I've changed. I've gotten... I've gotten soft." She found the unyielding anger in the Waterbender's eyes uncomfortable, and was overcome with the need to look at the Avatar. In doing so, she found compassion. It drew her like a spring would draw a man dying of thirst.

"I'm not the same. I've..." She couldn't find the words. It was as if the sure scroll that held her story was burnt at this point, and she had to struggle to fill the gap. "Since that day, since you spared me... I haven't been the same."

The Avatar looked at her, then closed his eyes, cocking his ear as if listening to a far off voice. The Waterbender turned to the Earthbender.

"Well?" The Waterbender made it a demand, fueled by anger and frustration.

"Hard to say," the little blind girl said, slowly, as if the question was more detailed in it's demands. "She's not lying, but she's not calm about it, either. _Something_ definitely happened to her."

It wasn't good enough for the Waterbender, evidently. She leaned toward the blind girl and hissed through her teeth, "What do you _mean_ 'she _isn't_ lying,' Toph? Did you hear what she said?"

"That's really a stupid question, Katara. Of course I _heard_ her. I did everything but read her lips." The girl smiled a smug, wry smile. Azula felt she and the smaller girl could have been friends, under different circumstances.

At this point, the Avatar opened his eyes, blinking owlishly at Azula. A smile began to spread on his face, and he leaned back, as if his companions had not spoken at all.

"No one's shown you compassion before, have they?" His question, despite the smile on his face, was sad, and Azula found herself shaken by it.

"I..." She couldn't think, not with the question echoing in her mind. She glanced back at Ty Lee and Mai, who looked away, and looked down herself. "N-" Before she could deny it, the image of a doll burning in her hand thrust it's way to the forefront of her mind. "Yes. But it didn't seem important..."

"Huh," the Avatar shrugged. "That explains a lot, and raises a few questions. Do you mind staying here while I sort this out?"

The Waterbender was not at all happy about this. She stood near the door, arms crossed, her jaw clenched. Azula nodded, slowly, and the Avatar and the Earthbender retreated. The Waterbender turned.

"I have my eye on you," she hissed, barely restraining herself, it seemed, from launching herself at the trio to rip them apart with her bare hands.

The Avatar turned back and touched the Waterbender's hand. "Come on, Katara."

"I don't understand this, Aang," she said, her voice shaking.

"Me either," Aang shrugged. "I just have a good feeling about this."

Azula blurted out. "So you... you didn't do _anything_ to me?"

Aang turned back, shook his head, and smiled at her, sadly. "It looks like, Princess Azula, you did it to yourself."

The door closed, and Azula sat back, feeling drained. "I don't know what to do with that," she protested softly to the wall.

* * *

It had seemed that she had finally fallen into a fitful sleep when she was being shaken awake by Mai.

"Wake up, Azula. They're coming." Mai's tone was tense, which was better than the shaking for bringing Azula to full consciousness.

"The Avatar? At this hour?"

"No," Mai responded bemusedly. "It's one of the village warriors and Ty Lee's boy of the month."

"Hey!"

Azula chuckled at Ty Lee's outburst. "Why are they coming here?"

Mai watched the door. "I'm guessing the warrior has problems with you."

Azula had no time to clarify the statement before the door was pounded open and a fearsome white-faced warrior woman stood glaring at Azula. With a wordless cry, she charged. Mai stood, willing and ready to ward the girl off. It was unnecessary, however, as the Water Tribe warrior caught his Kyoshi counterpart by the back of her tunic.

"Suki, would you _stop_, already?" He seemed more worried that the girl would get hurt than that she would do any lasting harm to the Fire Nation trio temporarily held in this hut.

_Rightly so_, Azula couldn't help thinking. "Let her go," she said, her voice weary. Both of the warriors reacted in surprise, the boy dropping his hand from the girl's tunic.

The green clad warrior stalked menacingly toward Azula, her fists clenching and unclenching automatically. Azula let her get halfway across the distance before she spoke.

"If I'm going to die," she started, trying as hard as she could to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, and failing if the utterly aghast look on the Water Triber was any indication, "do I at least get the courtesy of knowing why?"

"Why?" The Kyoshi warrior sputtered, her arms flailing about as if to try to communicate what her voice could not. "You attacked my warriors in the forest! You left us for dead!"

Azula rolled her eyes. "That's odd, I seem to remember that your warriors were quite intent on keeping me from obtaining a certain flying bison, and that you succeeded despite being outmatched." She ignored the growl and the step forward. "As for the other thing, we left you alive. While I don't expect you to fall down and pledge your lives to me," ("Anymore," whispered Ty Lee, holding back a giggle.) "I don't see what the problem is."

"Two of my girls are going to commit seppuku because of that fight!"

"What?" Azula was incredulous. "Gods, I thought only the Fire Nation did that foolishness!" She pushed past the two warriors, then turned at the door. "While you were in here intent on punishing me, you could have been putting a stop to this foolishness!"

She strode out of the hut, followed, she knew, by Mai and Ty Lee, if for no other reason that to find out what Azula was going to do. It wasn't hard for her to find where the rite was to take place; all she needed to do was follow the smell of incense. _If there is one good thing about that stupid ritual, it's that it takes a long time to prepare it,_ she thought in disgust.

She did not wait to find out how far along the ceremony was, but barged in, shouting, "Stop this at once!"

All action in the room stopped, as if she had stopped time itself. In the center of the room, were two young women clad in white, both kneeling on tatami mats, both clutching short daggers in front of them. One, a round-faced girl, was weeping silently, tears streaming from her eyes. The other was stony-faced, but her hands were shaking. Behind each of them were two other warriors, clad in the uniform of the village's make-shift army, holding two katana aloft in preparation for a killing blow. All four young women were staring at Azula in open shock.

"I don't know why you're doing this, and frankly, I don't care." Azula paced forward, crossing her arms in front of her chest and raising her brow, drawing out her words in long, slow tones that she'd always saved for speaking to a particularly dim soldier. "I do know that you're not going to do it while I'm around."

"You know nothing of our ways!" the stone faced girl shouted. "We failed, and so we mus-"

"Please," Azula waved the comment away. "What did you fail at? What, exactly, was the nature of your mission when we fought?"

The girl's eyes widened in recognition. "You!" She stood, stumbling from having knelt for too long, and brandished the dagger that was to be her death.

"Answer the question!"

The round faced girl spoke, her voice quiet, though in the silence after Azula's shout, it was clearly heard. "We were to allow the bison to escape."

"Which you did." Azula raised a brow, knowing it would anger the stone-faced girl, in fact hoping that she would, to get her to think. "So what's the problem?"

"You decimated our forces. Three of you. Took out our entire squad." The girl's hands shook, and she snarled. "I can't live with that."

"Let me see if I understand this." Azula paced forward, putting her finger to her chin and pacing, putting on the air of thinking out a great problem. "You and your little army, none of which are capable of Bending, fought the Fire Nation's princess and two elite fighters that she had hand picked in order to be able to track down and fight the Avatar, of all people, and not only kept me and my two best fighters from obtaining what we wanted, but survived... and that embarrassed you so much you just had to die?"

Silence reigned for a few minutes, until a spluttering laugh came from behind her and to her left. Azula rolled her eyes. "As Ty Lee is so eloquently pointing out, the whole idea is laughable."

"What do _you_ care?" growled the stone-faced girl, her unarmed had clenching and unclenching.

Azula sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Because I'm here, now, to help the Avatar, and he can't win if the people willing to help him keep killing themselves over stupid things. Also, frankly, killing yourself, for any reason, is just stupid."

"My honor —" the girl started, but Azula was quite prepared for that argument.

"Oh, please! Honor! Who does it honor to kill yourself? You? You're _dead_! Your family? Do you really think a weeping mother cares one bit that you at least died in _honor_? No! She only knows that her daughter died, and nothing else has changed! There's still a war on, there's still fighting and killing, and her daughter didn't even die to protect anyone. She died by her own cursed hand!" Blue flames flickered around her hand as she gestured, causing the girl to back up. "If you feel like your honor was damaged, then you have to _live _to restore it! Fight well! Fight hard! Defend your family and village and way of life!"

A clinking of metal startled both the girl and Azula, and they turned as one toward the round faced girl. "I don't want to do this," she sobbed. The woman behind her raised her sword, as was her duty.

A blue ball of fire, a knife, a stone, and a metal boomerang impacted the sword at nearly the same time, blasting it out of the woman's hand and sending it clattering to the ground, where it curled upon itself and was rendered useless. The boomerang continued over the head of the second swordswoman to return to the Water Tribe warrior's hand. Azula turned to see the Avatar, Mai, and the blind Earthbender in various stances.

The sobbing girl continued as if nothing happened. "I... I only agreed because Sayuki is my best friend... I... I didn't want her to be alone... but I don't want to die!"

The other girl, Sayuri, turned back to her friend, her mouth agape. "But... you..." She fell to her knees, her stone mask cracking. "I don't want you to do that for me..."

Suki walked up from behind. "Return to your quarters." Her voice was rough, and she wiped her sleeve across her eyes. "I expect you at training tomorrow. Both of you." Without another word, she turned and strode out of the hut, breaking into a run when she thought no one could see her.

Azula turned, too, only to be stopped by the Avatar. He looked up at her, his face grim, but his eyes shining in some sort of triumph. "Tomorrow. Would like to meet with you tomorrow." He and the Earthbender, the Water Tribe Warrior, and the Waterbender, who had been in the doorway, unnoticed, turned and walked away. Azula caught a flash of confusion on the Waterbender's face.

She stayed behind until the two girls left, one supporting the other, making sure their seconds didn't get an idea to finish the ritual anyway, and then, too, strode from the ht to her own.

In the center, between the futons that the girls slept on, knelt Zuko, a bemused expression on his face. "That was... strange, what you just did."

"You came to tell me that, Zuzu," quipped Azula, unable to look him in the eye from embarrassment.

"No." He actually smiled, hardly trying to hide it. He held out a scroll in his hand and let her take it.

On the side were the words _Wanted for the death of Fire Nation Soldiers: The Yellow Demon._ She mouthed the last three words in confusion, before the crudely drawn picture to the left of the words clarified in her mind. The wild hair, the jagged yellow paint in the form of a jester's face, running beneath the eyes to give it a jagged, evil appearance. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh, _Agni..._"

"Yellow Demon, hmm?" Zuko was definitely enjoying this far too much. "Did you wear a mask?"

"No," she snapped. "I'm not an idiot."

"It was make-up," Ty Lee giggled, looking at her friend wickedly.

"Jester make-up," added Mai, amused and just as wicked. Zuko and Ty Lee laughed uproarously.

"I hate. You. Both.

* * *

A/N: Once again, thank you to Invaderk, who has taken this meandering, confusing piece of work and made sure it was at least grammatically correct.

I'm very sorry it took so long to up date. They (Azula, to be precise) has told me how it ends but is reluctant to share how she gets there. :-\


	12. Balm

Azula found the concept of a beach fascinating. It weren't as if she had never seen a beach. It was only that, since she was very young she had never had time to go to a beach. Her mother had tried to take her, certainly, but at the time her father had deemed that she was to train to hone her already prodigious talent in Firebending. At the time, anything her father had said was as law to her.

She had been so naive.

Now she had a rare opportunity to be alone, with Mai and Ty Lee pursuing other interests, both of whom were male and slightly disgusting (she had seen the Water Tribe warrior eat), so she had taken the trail down to where the island met the sea and sat, watching the waves. It was peaceful, almost lulling, and she found herself closing her eyes and lying back against the soft sand. The breeze was cool, but with the sun coming down it wasn't unpleasant on her bare arms and calves. While the clothes she found herself wearing weren't the finest, they were comfortable and well suited to the environment.

A shadow crossed over her, blocking the sun from her face, and while it wasn't unpleasant, it was a bit alarming. She started and opened her eyes, coming face to beard with her uncle Iroh.

She found herself smiling pleasantly, even though her insides danced. Having had the experiences she'd had, she could see a definite resemblance between Lu Ten and her uncle.

He stared down at her, blandly, and then sat next to her, his large form sinking with a surprising grace. She tracked him with her eyes, but otherwise didn't move, nor did she lose her smile.

"The Avatar is too trusting," Iroh started, staring out to sea. Azula turned her head to look where he was looking, and nodded after a few moments.

"He is," she said, slowly. "Or he's a very good judge of character." She smiled inwardly, glancing from the corner of her eye as her uncle mulled over her words. It was like watching him play Pai Sho, mulling over a particularly involved move by an opponent. She smiled at the thought that she was challenging his perceptions.

"He had people to help him gauge others," he said, just as slowly. "He has learned to listen to his friends."

"He's also accepted two of his most persistent pursuers with hardly a blink. You can't tell me his advisors saw that coming," she raised a brow.

Iroh smiled, ever so slightly. "No. At least, not with the most recent..." He trailed off, glancing at her briefly. "You've confused a lot of people, Azula."

She shook her head. "I wish I could say that they're the only ones... Uncle." The last word was hesitant, soft, and she took great care in not turning to look at him. He, likewise, made no move to look her way, but his shoulders tensed. "A lot has happened."

"Your friend, Mai, has told me. At least, what she can know." Iroh leaned back, resting on his elbows, his eyes now on the clouds above them. "She said that on the boat here, you had some very disturbing dreams."

Azula remained silent, lost in the sudden coldness in her chest. She had been able to forget her visit to the Land of the Dead. Because there was so much to think about, she'd even allowed herself, briefly, to forget about Warau and her battle with Fire Lord Ozai. Now it came rushing back.

_It had been the middle of their third week in the village where they had set up their act, a few days before they were to leave. Azula had performed, she'd felt, poorly, but the audience was either very forgiving or very stupid. It put her in a rather bad mood, nonetheless._

_"Shagua?" The voice was timid, and Azula turned to see Warau peeking from behind the tree that was her makeshift preparation area._

_"Warau, not now," she said, exasperated. Warau's head hung, and she turned to shuffle off. Azula couldn't bear it. "What?"_

_"You just seem sad, that's all." Warau's voice was sulky, but also compassionate, worried. Azula sighed and sat on a stump._

_"I just have a lot to think about." Despite her earlier ire, Warau approached her timidly. Azula watched her, then held out a hand, which Warau stepped up to take eagerly._

_"Shagau..." She had almost told her, then. If anything, to stop her from using that ridiculous name. She couldn't, though. She was still a child, despite how smart she seemed, and could easily be tricked into telling whatever she knew once the Fire Nation caught on that Azula and the others were traitors. "Shagua hasn't always been a good person." _Not that I am now,_ she thought with disgust._

_"She hasn't?" Warau's eyes were wide, intent, and Azula swallowed in the face of such innocent trust._

_"No. She's done some very mean and selfish things in the past." Azula felt foolish, referring to herself in the third person, but at the same time, it helped to talk about it, even to a child who probably didn't understand. "She hasn't even been a very good friend to the other performers."_

_The little one's eyebrows went up, and she crawled into Azula's lap and put both hands on the side of her face, forcing her to look into her deep brown eyes. "But you're a good person _now_, right?" She stared, and Azula blinked, her throat suddenly tight._

_"I don't know." It was a frank and honest answer, and she could hear the bitterness in her voice. Warau shrugged and turned, sliding back and down to sit in Azula's lap._

_"I do. You're a good person. You make people laugh, and you're nice to me, and to the others." Warau turned her head back to look at Azula, who was staring down at her in shock. "So don't be sad anymore, OK?"_

_Azula stared, then found herself smiling. "I'll try." She put an arm around the little girl and sat with her, in companionable silence._

_The crowd roared, supposedly at some feat Mai had managed, and Warau tensed. "I don't like them."_

_Azula looked out, seeing the audience, which was made up mostly of Fire Nation soldiers on break or leave. "Who?"_

_"The soldiers. They're scary." She wiggled back, trying to burrow further into Azula's embrace._

_Azula chuckled. "They don't scare me." When Warau looked back in wide eyed wonder, she winked. "I have a secret."_

_"What," Warau whispered, caught in thrall._

_"I'm stronger than any five of those guys," she said, flexing her free arm and winking._

_Warau grinned. "So I'm safe with you?"_

_Azula looked at her, then nodded, slowly, seriously. "You're safe with me, Warau."_

_The girl turned and hugged Azula tightly, her little cheek pressed against Azula's. "I love you, Shagua," she whispered. A lump formed in Azula's throat, and she couldn't talk for a little bit, even after the little girl hopped down, waved, and went back out to the audience to watch the rest of the show._

"Azula?" Her uncle's voice was surprised, and when she focused on him, his face was blurred. She blinked, and a tear dropped down her cheek. She hastily wiped it away.

"What happened?" For the first time since they'd began their conversation, Azula heard the kindly uncle that she'd always shunned and ridiculed.

"Mai told you about Wa-" her voice caught, and she forced the rest out past her clogged throat. "Warau, correct?" Iroh only nodded, and Azula closed her eyes. "We were in her village for three weeks while we figured out where you were. Warau... trusted me." She wiped her face with her arm. "She trusted me, and I failed her."

Iroh watched her as she fought to get control of her feelings, then rested a hand on her shoulder. He said nothing, but gave it a squeeze. Then he rose (a ponderous act that took far longer than anyone had the right to take) and looked down, obviously confused, but hopeful as well.

"Uncle," Azula said, quietly, almost lost in the surf. He turned back, as he was just beginning to turn to leave. "Have you found a decent Pai Sho opponent on this island?"

He smiled, slightly enigmatically, and shrugged. "I could do with one more. Your brother is good, but he lacks... finesse." He winked at her, and she found herself, once again, smiling.

"Would I do?"

"I think I would like that."

* * *

Azula stayed on the beach for the rest of the day. The memory of Warau that had suddenly burst into her conscious thoughts had brought with them others, some wonderful, but most very sad. She let them parade past, watching each, reliving them, but doing nothing to either cling to them nor drive them away. She had sat, lost in them, until the sun began to set. A muffled, "Oh," brought her out of the reverie slightly, and she turned to see who she had managed to surprise by just sitting there.

The Waterbender stood at the beginning of the path, stripped to what amounted to little more than undergarments, followed by the Avatar, who, she noticed, was doing all he could to make certain he didn't focus his eyes in a place that might be construed as improper.

It wasn't as if he didn't glance from time to time, but at least he wasn't staring.

The Waterbender was looking at the ground, fighting with herself. The Avatar looked at her oddly, then looked to see what had caught her so off guard. Spying Azula, he smiled brightly and waved.

To say that it was disconcertingly unexpected would have been an understatement. Azula lifted a hand and waved back weakly. Then, to assuage the Waterbender, she called out, "I don't bite, you know."

The other girl looked up, a worried scowl marring her features. "Aang," she said, approaching the water, "please start your forms. I'll be along in a moment."

"All right," the Avatar said long-sufferingly, and trudged to the water. Azula watched him, amused, if she hadn't fought him and been held back or even bested by him, she would have scoffed that she'd had anything to fear from him at all.

Katara stood, watching Aang, with arms crossed, but close enough to Azula that she was starting to get fidgety. Azula sighed. "I can leave."

The girl didn't answer, until she finally turned and said in the most exasperated tone she could must, "Your whole family is _weird_." She looked embarrassed as soon as she said it, but her eyes were defiant despite the blush.

Azula tried very hard, but couldn't hold back a laugh. "I can see how you would think that, but what brought this on?"

"You chase us halfway around the world, and suddenly you're..." Katara struggled with the word, then finally threw her arms up in frustration. "Not mean anymore!"

Azula laughed openly, this time, and Katara narrowed her eyes. "Don't worry," Azula said, holding up a hand. "I'm not laughing at you... much." She smirked, and Katara huffed, rolling her eyes.

"First Zuko chases us to the Northern Tribes," she started, sitting down with a plop, "and we fight, and he steals Aang _right out from under me,_" a waterspout from a nearby tidal pool shot into the air behind Katara, "and then he acts all nice... then he joins you, then he's telling us he did it to trick you and let us escape... ugh!" She pointed a finger accusingly at Azula. "Now you're saying you're on _our _side!"

Azula couldn't help it. She knew all of this, or most of it, but hearing the obvious consternation it was causing was both humorous and a little sobering. She smiled. "It's like watching a confused Turtleduckling at the edge of a pond, isn't it?" That had always been funny to her, watching the animal wonder if it should be swimming or flying.

"Yes!" The Waterbender looked at her, wide eyed. "Why are you doing this, huh? Why? Because if you hurt Aang again, I swear I wi--"

Azula shook her head. "I know it's hard to believe, but I've changed." She looked up, locking her golden eyes to Katara's blue. "I've been through a lot."

"I've heard that before!" Katara threw her hands up again, frustrated. "Everyone's lost someone, their son or their mother, but you never cared about _anything _like that!"

Azula raised a hand, her eyes instantly hard. "You don't like me. You don't _trust_ me. I understand that." Her voice was low. "But if you ever imply that I didn't care about her again, you will regret it."

Katara sat back, blinking. Azula swallowed, clenching the hand she had just raised, inwardly snarling that it was shaking. Both girls were silent, watching Aang practice Waterbending.

"Who?" The question was soft, tremulous, but also carried reluctance. Azula didn't look at her, nor did she answer. Katara took the initiative. "Your mother?"

"No," she answered shortly. "I always thought my mother was a weakling." She glanced at Katara again, who's eyes were hardening in anger. "I was wrong, but I've only just realized that. When I had her... I hated her."

Katara said nothing. Azula silently chastised herself. This girl had every reason to hate and none to forgive. It was worthless trying. She made to stand, but Katara raised her hand, effectively stopping her. Azula leaned back again, closing her eyes, and sighed. "I thought I would be over it by now. I barely knew her. But it's staying with me. I can't... I really..."

She fought with the emotion, then gave in, swallowing thickly. "Her name was Warau. She must have been... I don't know. Six. We were in disguise, and performing as a travelling troupe to make money. Nothing fancy, but because of my status, they put me in Jester's make up." Azula sat up, staring ahead. It made things easier. "There was this... this little girl, who came to talk to me... for no reason, I guess, except that I was trying to be funny and she evidently thought I was good at that."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Katara turn to face her. Azula closed her eyes. Seeing the girl's hatred now would taint Warau's memory. "She came after every show. She..." Azula wiped her face for the second time that day, feeling moisture that sill surprised and shamed her. "She trusted me." Her throat became tight, and she could only manage a whisper now. "She said she loved me."

A few moments passed before she could speak again, and she continued, determined to at least get through the story once. "There had been Fire Nation soldiers in the village, and I guess they heard we were there and what I'd done with Fire Lord Ozai-"

"Your father," the Waterbender interrupted.

"He's no father," Azula said, shaking her head with a wry grimace. "He may have sired me, but he's no father. And I was almost like him," she added, to herself, realizing now what she suspected her brother, mother, and uncle had known all along. "No, he is Fire Lord Ozai, no more, no less. And I was a traitor. The soldiers began to look for me... they burned down the house where all the orphaned children were. Most of them escaped, but... not Warau."

Katara gasped, and Azula opened her eyes, watching the sun sink into the horizon. "I tried." Her voice shook, and she finally looked at the Waterbender, for a reason she could not explain, knowing that it wouldn't matter. Tears leaked down her face, but she did nothing to stop them. "As soon as I heard the woman screaming, I rushed... I... I went in..."

"You found her," Katara whispered, her eyes filled with horror. Azula nodded, clenching her eyes shut.

She could have sworn that she heard the Waterbender murmur that she'd hate herself later, but her mind locked when thin arms wrapped around her shoulders. She opened her eyes to see dark hair flowing in front of it. The Waterbender was hugging her.

It was comforting. It was good. It was very, very strange.

Azula couldn't care less. She allowed herself to cry, grieving openly for the first time.

When the tears had stopped, both girls sat back, composing themselves, wiping their eyes. Katara cleared her throat. "I'm not saying I'll trust you right away."

"Fair enough," Azula said, sniffling slightly.

"Aang does, though. So... peace. For now." Katara looked over at her, then down. "In fact... I need your help with something."

Azula watched her for a long time, then smiled, thinly. "You'll have to tell me what it is first."

Katara looked at her, uncomfortable. "Aang refuses to learn Firebending. Zuko can't convince him, and neither can Iroh... can you?"

Both looked at Aang, who had just called for Katara to watch as he rode a waterspout high into the air. It collapsed, suddenly, sending him splashing hard into the water.

"I'll see what I can do."

* * *

A/N: Many huge thanks to Invaderk for a wonderful job betaing. I don't think I express enough how much I appreciate you and how much you do for me. :)

This chapter was long, but it also took a long time to start. For a while I was really afraid that I would have to put this story on hiatus. I wrote the majority of this in one day :X

R&R!!


	13. Balance

_That night, she dreamt. She could tell it was a dream, and yet could not seem to control it. It was as if she were floating outside of her own body on warm winds, sweeping down to look at the scene playing before her eyes, and yet, she was watching it happen in the usual perspective. Not like a play, but through her own persona's eyes._

_She was sitting on the Throne of the Fire Nation, looking down on the great hall. She had never seen the throne hall from this perspective, but instinctively knew that one day she would. The fires on either side of the carpeted pathway were bright and high, raging infernos fed by an unknown fuel, and she smiled, her heart warmed at both the protection and fear that she knew the mere image of them inspired. In the shadows between the pyres, which were deep despite the fire's light, guards waited, alert to any attack their Mistress might be forced to endure. It had always been this way, and though she thought the gesture both overly dramatic and useless, she allowed it for tradition's sake._

_The massive doors, wrought in iron instead of stone, opened slowly, and three figures entered, one holding chains on the other two, forcing them to walk quickly despite what seemed to be great difficulty doing so. One of the chained figures whimpered, but the other remained silent save for the odd pained hiss._

"_I have brought them, my Lady," the third reported, quietly and bowing in deference. She stood, walking slowly down the steps, and looked them in the eye._

_It was then that her sleeping self began to protest, curling and writhing in her chest as her dream self lifted Ty Lee's chin and looked into her wet brown eyes, delighting in the fear there, glancing at the defiant yet resigned look on Mai's face._

"_Kill them." She purred, and her chest ached in protest. Ty Lee cried out as Mai was struck down, still sobbing as the flame enveloped her as well…_

Azula sat bolt upright, shaking, eyes narrowing before she could even think to calm her heart. Standing, she looked down at her sleeping friends, seeing brief flashes of their faces in the dream super-imposing themselves on their sleeping faces. She shook her head, calmer now, but still bothered.

She slipped out the door and walked down a path between two rows of huts, allowing the cool ocean breeze to cool her skin and soothe her mind.

The beach had quickly become her favorite place, both for the water, which she found enthralling, and the openness of the terrain. The ocean, whether pounding with surf on the beach of this little island, or still as glass, made her feel at peace.

She was, therefore, slightly dismayed to find that she wasn't alone. Silhouetted where the sand met the water was a figure going through various bending forms, slowly and carefully for some, quickly and methodically for others. Waters danced for the figure, pulled from the ocean to form shapes and patterns suitable for fighting. The ground shook and split, casting rocks the size of a man's head into the air and around the figure in a shield. All the while the air whipped at clothing and water and rock, cutting out into the water, returning to surround the figure. Three elements worked in near perfect harmony. That Avatar was certainly a sight to behold.

To Azula's eye, however, the entire display missed something. It was as if a single color was missing from an otherwise great painting, or a single instrument from a performance of an epic piece of music.

Azula thrust her palm out, sending a gout of flame at the Avatar, letting go of her control of it just as it touched his wind barrier. For a split second, music was complete, the four elements twisting as one around the Avatar, who seemed, just then, the perfect master of all elements.

Until he spun, gasped, and tripped to fall on his backside in the shallow water.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" He blinked, then spoke, a little more sedately, "again, I mean."

Azula smiled, not bothering to show her teeth. She strode toward him and lowered herself, resting her weight on the balls of her feet. Her head cocked to the side, watching the Avatar curiously as he blinked up at her like an owlcat.

"You almost had it," she said in a whisper. "You came so close to taking control of the flame." Her voice was soft, almost reverent. In truth, she was curious, and it came out in her voice. "Why didn't you?"

Aang opened his mouth, then closed it. The light in his eyes, curious and bright, like a child's closed off. It was neither the child that he longed to be, nor the ancient Avatar that looked at her, but a mask of stone, a falsehood. "I'll never Firebend again," he said at last, his voice as dead as his expression.

"So you _have_ bent before. I'd thought so." She all but purred, smiling a little. "You've mastered the others, if what I've just seen is _any_ indication. Why not this one?" She had wanted to brag, to tout Firebending as the ultimate in bending arts, but he, and to a minor extent, the Earthbender and Waterbender, had managed to hold her to a standstill on more than one occasion. Besides, arrogance didn't work on the Avatar.

"Firebending hurts people," he said, his voice rife with such pain and guilt that she felt a pang of sympathy for him. "I'll never hurt anyone again. Never."

Azula shook her head. She couldn't fault his desire. She had felt much the same way recently. It was, however, naiveté to believe that one could wage war on the Fire Lord and manage to get to him without hurting people who were determined to prevent it.

"How do you come by that? Firebending hurting people?" She sat, now, just out of the water's reach. The Avatar stayed where he was. If the water was giving him a chill, he didn't show it.

"I hu-" He stopped, swallowing thickly. "I've watched Firebenders in battle. They use anger to make their fire-"

Azula laughed, causing the mask the Avatar had slipped on to hide his real reasons to slip and show shocked annoyance. "_Anger_?" She could hardly speak now, her laughter causing her to hold her sides. "Only amateurs use anger. Firebending isn't about anger, it's…" She smiled, her eyes lighting up, "passion."

Aang's brows beetled in confusion, giving Azula much needed time to calm herself. "You'd be surprised to find in all our fights I was never angry with you. Well, once, when you broke my drill, but by then the fight was over and you'd scampered back into Ba Sing Se."

The boy looked down at the water between his knees, sighing. "I hurt someone when I tried to Bend fire. I can't risk that."

Azula looked down herself. She had almost no experience with guilt. In truth, it had never occurred to her to feel guilty for anything she had done. It was an emotion to manipulate in others, or to push aside should it ever dare to show itself in her. There was no room for guilt in her life. Not before Warau, at any rate.

"You feel guilty." It was a statement, blurted out in a flash of insight. The Avatar blinked up at her, a look on his face as if she'd said water was wet. "Why?"

"_Why?_" Aang stood up, spreading his arms as if to encompass the entire world. "Because I hurt _Katara_!" He stopped, coloring deeply, stammering retractions. Azula waved them away.

"Is she still hurt?"

He screwed up his face, completely confused out of his embarrassment. "No. She learned she could use water to heal, so she healed herself."

Azula nodded. "So she learned something from the experience." She stood as well, brushing imagined dirt from her trousers. "At least one of you did."

"I learned plenty," Aang exploded. "I learned fire is dangerous!"

"You think?" Azula smirked. "Fire burns everything it touches."

Aang nodded, his point made. "Exactly."

"So Zuko, and myself, and Iroh. We must be very dangerous people."

That brought the Avatar up short, and he blinked. "Well… I mean… you… haven't hurt anyone yet… recently… that I know of."

"So not all fire is dangerous."

"No!" He cut himself off, seeing the trap too late. "I mean, yes. I mean…"

"You learned the right lesson, Avatar. You just learned the wrong solution."

More confusion, but he seemed willing to listen, at least. "What does that mean?"

Azula paced around him, ticking on her fingers. "You learned that fire is dangerous in the wrong hands. You learned that people can get hurt. But instead of learning to control the fire so that the only people to get hurt would be the people you wanted to hurt, you instead decided not to use it at all." She shook her head, tisking. "That doesn't seem much like you, Avatar."

Aang frowned. "But I don't want to hurt anyone."

Azula nodded once. "Well… I can't help you with that. You've all but declared war on the Fire Lord. Someone's going to get hurt." When the Avatar looked down, Azula poked his shoulder. "It won't be your fault, though." Why she was telling him this, she had no idea, but it seemed to be working. "They'll be the ones trying to hurt _you_."

Aang's eyes remained on the sand, and a few moments passed with only the waves to mark them. Finally he looked up. "Will you teach me?"

Azula stared at him, hard. She hadn't expected this. It was a level of trust that she hadn't quite earned, not yet, but he gave it freely. Iroh was entirely correct. The Avatar was too trusting.

And yet the opportunity was too good to pass. If the Avatar won, it would be known that she was the one who'd taught him the last element he needed. To some, to many, she would be a hero.

"No." She said the word slowly, as gently as she could, but his shoulders still slumped in disappointment. "I'm not the one you need to learn from."

"But they told me you were the best." He looked up at her, his eyes alight with hope and excitement. "Iroh says you're a prodigy."

_That_ was unexpected, and a little heartwarming. "I've been told the same all my life. That's exactly the reason why Iroh should teach you and not me."

He looked confused, and Azula almost laughed. "Most of the things I can do come naturally, or almost naturally. I wouldn't be a good teacher. Iroh would."

"But you can throw lightning!"

Azula did laugh, then, bitterly. "Not in a long time, Avatar. Not since… well, whatever happened. Since then, I've only done it once. Besides, Iroh can do it, too. And he can re-channel it when it's thrown at him." Aang's eyes widened, and Azula nodded. "I know. It's amazing."

Aang looked out at the ocean, then back at her. "OK. I'll do it." He sighed, as if a weight had been pulled off his shoulder. "I don't see how it'll help against the Fire Nation, though…"

"Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire, Avatar."

Some wordless agreement passed between them, and they turned as one to go back to the village. The Avatar was thoughtful as he walked, but finally he spoke.

"I have a name, you know."

"I'd thought as much," Azula quipped, smirking as they walked together.

"It's Aang. I'd rather you called me that than Avatar."

Azula nodded slowly. "All right, then." She shrugged. "It'll take getting used to, though."

Aang nodded, and they entered the village in companionable silence. He turned to her and bowed before heading back to where he slept nights. It was an odd feeling, to be respected so readily when she'd done so little. Odd, but good.

* * *

She woke again, breathing quickly, her hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat just beginning to slow. It leapt again when a voice whispered from her left. 

"You OK?"

Azula spun, cracking her back to see Ty Lee's eyes shining in the dark. She forced herself to relax. "Yes. I'm fine." Ty Lee's eyes took on a skeptical look, and Azula shook her head. "No. I'm not." She leaned against the wall, sighing. "I'm having… bad dreams."

"Bad how?" This from her right, in low tones. It struck Azula, then, that it had been a long time since Mai had sounded bored. She'd have to ask about that.

Later.

"In them I'm… the way I was. Before." She shrugged. It'd been hard to explain the moment she changed now that the Avatar could no longer be blamed for it. Ty Lee and Mai seemed to understand what she meant, however. "Only I'm worse. I…" She swallowed, feeling an uncomfortable tightness in her chest. "I keep killing you two. Enjoying it."

Ty Lee's tiny hand pressed against her shoulder, and Azula turned to look into the eyes, which reflected moonlight so well they seemed to glow. "I remember wanting to be the way I was… but I never, ever wanted that."

Mai sat close, almost close enough to touch, and patted Azula's arm, a little awkwardly. "We've all been forced to change, Azula. You've gone through the biggest one, though."

"But I don't want to go _back_, Mai." Azula leaned her head back against the rock wall. "I definitely don't want to kill my friends."

Ty Lee bit back a squeal and hugged Azula suddenly, then just as suddenly pulled back. "Sorry. It's just nice to hear."

Azula smiled, straightening her nightsmock. "It's OK." After a moment, she looked at her friends. "So do you two have any ideas, or do I need to go to the Avatar for advice?"

Mai shrugged, but Ty Lee spoke up instantly. "It's balance."

"What?"

Ty Lee rolled forward, standing on her hands. "I know you remember that I could do this pretty young, right?" Azula nodded, slightly confused, but Ty Lee continued before any questions could be asked. "Well, while I was growing," she said, rolling back to a sitting position, " These," and here she indicated her chest, "came in. and for a while I had trouble keeping my balance. I was more top heavy, see?" She shook her shoulders in emphasis. "It took a while, but I found my new balance after some practice. It's the same thing."

"Are you saying I've grown some kind of spiritual breasts?"

Ty Lee collapsed in a fit of giggles, unable to speak for a good minute or two. After seconds, Mai and Azula joined her.

* * *

A/N: I'm BACK, BABY!! 

Sincerely, many MANY apologies for this taking so long. I had some severe writer's block, coupled with heavy workloads. Huge thanks to InvaderK for patience and encouragement.


	14. Uncertainty

"All right, we know that the eclipse is happening midsummer. When it does, all Benders in the Fire Nation's armies will be completely powerless. They will lose their control over fire."

Sokka's voice rang clear in the large hut that was being used as a planning area for the assault on the Fire Nation. Either the Kyoshi Islanders had grown used to Azula, or her part in convincing the Avatar to finally undertake his training in Firebending gave her more credibility, because she was invited to sit in on the planning sessions Sokka called nightly. It seemed to be quite the popular event, because every warrior and elder in the village was there, as well as the group of foreigners among them. It seemed either Sokka was either a very charismatic speaker, or everyone was simply attracted by the idea that someone was doing something.

Azula had little doubt in the Water Tribesman's abilities, but she thought the latter was more likely.

Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi warriors, was quite distracted between Sokka, glaring at Azula, and glaring even more heatedly at Ty Lee, who sat as close to the front as she could without being at Sokka's knee. Ty Lee was either wrapped up in Sokka's speech (or simply her infatuation with him) or having fun tormenting the Warrior woman. If the flash of a grin that Azula thought she could see every time the Kyoshi girl looked away was an indication, it was a little of both.

Katara, Aang, and Toph all sat near the door, listening politely, and Iroh sat to one side, seemingly asleep, arms folded. Yet he nodded his head whenever Sokka pointed out a plan, or his brow furrowed when a hole appeared. So far, there were few good points and many huge, gaping wide holes.

Not the least of which was the nature of the eclipse everyone seemed to think was their salvation.

Mai had spotted it, too, looking to Azula as soon as the Water Tribe Warrior began speaking of the event. Azula, who had been scowling throughout the explanation, nodded to her. In turn, Mai looked to Zuko, gave a minute start of surprise, looked back between Zuko and Azula, and suppressed a giggle.

She'd have to ask about that when they were alone. Somehow, she wasn't sure she'd appreciate the answer.

Sokka relinquished the floor, and then the arguing started. It was as if someone pulled a lever. The Elders wanted to keep their warriors nearby to guard the Earth King and the village. The Warriors wanted to go with the Avatar's group to fight the Fire Kingdom. Zuko wanted everyone to shut up and plan instead of shouting. As he was the son of the Fire Lord, the suggestion (as it were) was shouted down or ignored all together.

Sokka had his face in his hands, looking stricken from the moment Suki leapt up to defend him. Ty Lee patted his shoulder, but he either didn't notice or didn't care. Either way, the acrobat seemed to be in heaven.

Mai once again caught Azula's eye, and the Princess tilted her head toward the door. Mai stood, brushing Zuko's shoulder briefly, and walked to the door. Ty Lee, noticing the movement, stood and followed. Zuko seemed torn, and was looking toward the doorway when it closed.

"My head," Mai began, in a monotone that was more sarcastic than bored, "is throbbing." Ty Lee actually looked before a playful swipe from Mai made her grin and jump back.

"Hmm," Azula intoned, nodding in agreement. Mai smiled a little and put her fingers to her mouth. Azula narrowed her eyes "What?"

"You and Zuko had the exact same expression on your faces," she said, then giggled. Ty Lee's eyes widened.

"She laughed! You heard it!" Azula herself had to laugh as Mai took another swipe at Ty Lee. The memory of the meeting, however, cut her laughter short.

"Nothing is going to get done that way," Azula sighed, leaning against the building. If anything, the shouting seemed to have risen in pitch, and the walls barely muffled the noise from within. After a few moments, the door opened and Aang darted through, followed by Katara supporting a whimpering Toph, who held her hands over her ears with a pained expression.

"Every night," Katara snarled, bending at the waist to look at the girl's ears by torchlight. "Maybe you shouldn't attend these meetings if they're going to argue every night, Toph," she said in a softer voice. Toph winced, but nodded, then walked away to lean against a tree a good distance from the hut. The rest of the group followed, joined by Sokka, who looked completely defeated. Ty Lee retook her role of comforting him, with much the same results.

"Nothing is going to get done that way!" Sokka cried, causing Toph to wince and hit him.

"Quiet, Snoozles!"

Ty Lee patted Sokka's arm. "Azula said the same thing."

This caused a stir of interest, from the wary look Katara gave her, to the hopeful one that the Avatar himself was gracing her with. Azula sighed and opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a voice coming from the direction of the meeting hut.

"The difference is, Uncle, that there is no leader to tell them to be quiet!" Iroh and Zuko were walking away, Zuko looking disgusted and Iroh, amused. "At least in the war committees that I sat in, Father could tell them to shut up and listen!"

"Your father would also blast them with fire if they didn't," Iroh chuckled. "I doubt that _that_ particular method will be met with the same success he enjoys."

Azula called out. "Do you have a suggestion, then, Uncle?"

Iroh started, then, without missing more of a beat, turned and walked toward the group around the tree. He still looked amused, offsetting Zuko's scowl as he followed. "My, no one told me we were having a party out here," he chuckled. "Come, let's go to my hut and have some tea."

"You and your tea," Toph said, but her tone was affectionate as she lead the way in following Iroh.

* * *

The new meeting was not loud, nor was there much anger, but it was also no more productive than the last. The tea _was_ good, however, and it went a long way toward calming their nerves from the former fiasco. 

Sokka had been crushed to learn the nature of the eclipse, because he had, indeed, been planning to use the time while the Fire Nation was weak to make their way to the Fire Lord. Iroh, however, gave him a spark of hope.

"The eclipses in the past have been tracked across the Fire Nation lands before. Travelling from east," he pointed to the map, tracing an imaginary route "to west over the course of—"

"A week? A month?" Sokka's voice rose with his excitement.

"A day," Iroh finished, embarrassed. Sokka slumped, and Ty Lee patted his shoulder. Toph scowled lightly, but only Azula seemed to notice. She had a thought, a little niggling in the back of her mind.

"There's no way," Sokka was saying. "We just don't have the army to push a major offensive into the Fire Nation."

"What assets _do _you have," Zuko said, insistent. His gaze was intense, and he looked, startlingly, like the Fire Lord Himself.

Sokka looked up, thinking. "Well, us, obviously. And if Suki can convince them, we have her warriors. That's about two squads of people... If we can find him, my Father is with a squad or so of Water Tribe warriors."

"The Northern Water Tribe might help, too," Katara added, softly, her voice pitched to comfort. Sokka, however, seemed to be suitably distracted by the planning.

"I don't think we have the time to wait for them," he said, seriously, not dismissing his sister's suggestion out of hand. Katara nodded once and sat back, thinking. "Still," he went on, "we can send them a message while we're looking for Dad."

Zuko was looking grim, and Azula could see why. No more than 30 people, warriors all, and six Benders, to try to enter the Fire Nation and depose it's Lord. It was looking more and more impossible.

Sokka must have caught the grim looks. "I know it seems..." He stopped, sighing. "We have to get there fast, too. And the only way to do that is Appa. And he can't carry that many."

"Maybe we should get captured."

The words had come out of her mouth before she'd realized she was thinking them, and she looked up to see an array of startled, incredulous, and even disgusted looks. Unfortunately, she also felt her face warm. They were making her blush. Now they all had to die.

She turned and left the hut, striding quickly towards her own, and therefore missed the startled look between Ty Lee and Mai, and the thoughtful look on Iroh's.

* * *

She didn't wait for them, but curled up on her bedroll and closed her eyes. Despite the stillness of her body, her mind was a torrent, keeping her occupied. The looks on everyone's faces when she'd blurted out that they should be captured were almost too much to take. Had she gotten so weak? Had she actually given up? 

The thought was too much to bear, and she blanked her mind. The meetings had taken so much out of her, and the abortive plans to try to cross the Fire Nation as draining as a day's worth of chasing the Avatar. As she fled from her thoughts, she found the only refuge she could; She fell asleep.

_It was a dream. She was aware of that, yet could not control it as in other times, when she was lucid in her dreams. She was both within herself and without, watching from what seemed to be a veiled entryway and looking down at her current prey, who happened to be rather male, and trapped underneath her. She was straddling him, looking down at him and grinning, the predatory grin she usually saved for the moosow that would be chosen for that night's supper._

_He was also dark skinned, with a shock of dark hari that was shaved on the sides and—_

Oh agni,_ the outside her thought in horror, _It's Sokka!

_He wasn't struggling, but whether that was from the bonds on his wrists (and probably ankles, though the inner-self had no desire to look) or some perverse pleasure he was gaining she couldn't tell. His face was pained, and there were red marks on his bare chest, along with oddly raised welts._

"_Do you see how it works yet, Warrior," the Grinning Azula purred. "If you cooperate, you get pleasure. If not..." She lifted a hand from one side of the boy, holding a burning red candle. "Pain."_

_Sokka glared up at her defiantly, twisting his mouth to emphasize his determination to remain quiet. From outside, Azula could see the look of fury flit across the other's face, and could feel the corresponding rage from her inner-self. It was disconcerting. She watched as the other tipped the candle, letting hot wax drip onto his chest, causing him to arch._

_She was ashamed to admit that the arching body underneath her felt good._

_When the warrior beneath her refused to scream, she pulled at the flame itself, arcing it from the candle to his chest, causing him to whimper. A voice from the left of the pair cried out tremulously, "Stop it! Stop it!"_

_It was the Kyoshi warrior, chained up with her feet off the ground, in plain view of the entire scene. On another chain was the Earth Bender, looking equally anguished by silent. She was held to the earth by shackles and seemed to be shaking. Between them was Ty Lee. Her expression was oddly blank, and there were two odd marks on her forehead._

_Dream-Azula leapt off of Sokka, who was weeping silently, and stalked toward Suki. "He knows the price," she snarled, barely in control of her rage. Then she calmed, visibly, and smiled again. "But perhaps I'm going about this all wrong." She grabbed the warrior's face in her left hand, pointing a finger at the other girl's forehead. "Perhaps he'll be more inclined to talk once I've shown him how I deal with obstinance." A thin flame erupted from her fingertip, bright and blue and burning hot. "Ty Lee was obstinate once. But I fixed that, didn't I, Ty?"_

_Ty Lee looked up, her eyes vacuous, and then looked down again. The marks on her forehead were burns. Deep burns, and, somehow, Azula knew, they went all the way to her brain._

_The dreaming Azula, the one on the outside, shouted and railed trying to wrest control of the dream from the path it was on. The other one looked directly at her, freezing her with a look, and grinned. "Don't worry, deary," it hissed. "You're next!"_

She woke with a gasp, hand on her pounding heart, and tried to quell her shaking. Her eyes were wet, but she did nothing to stop it. She just wanted the image to get out of her head.

"What's happening to me?" she whispered, glancing over at the sleeping Ty Lee.

* * *

She was still troubled when she met her uncle for their second Pai Sho game. The first had been wary and tense until the pieces began to move. Once they had become lost in the game, things had become much easier, and at the end of the night, they were both smiling. 

This time she was off her game, and she knew it. Her uncle, however, said nothing as she rubbed her forehead, thinking of the searing burn marks that had been in the same place on the dream Ty Lee. She finally spotted a move, bet three bamboo splinters (which they were using for money) and waited.

Iroh's brows raised, and he smiled slightly. "I was beginning to worry," he said, taking his time refilling their tea while looking at the board. When he put the pot down, he moved down to slide his dragon tile forward to protect, of all things, the peasant tile.

Azula looked up, suddenly furious, but said nothing. Perhaps she had been wrong. Perhaps he wasn't putting as much into these games as she thought he was. But he did not react to her furious stare, and at this point, she just wanted the game over. She moved to take the dragon tile, sending the peasant tile scampering.

Iroh nodded slightly, tsking, and set up a standard war frontline formation on the left. As Azula began to dismantle it, he would occasionally waste a turn on the peasant tile, giving her an even stronger advantage. It was maddening.

The front line defense grew stronger, but Azula threw all her concentration into it, dismantling it in small and then larger chunks. Which is why, when his peasant tile entered her side of the playing field, she ignored it, until, finally, three moves before her victory, he touched the edge and replaced the peasant with the dragon.

Azula stared at the little tile. Because she had committed her forces to dismantling Iroh's seeming attack, she had no one in place to protect the Emperor tile, and where he had managed to regain his dragon piece blocked her from moving her Emperor without putting him in danger.

"An enlightening move, Uncle," she said, swallowing, and he smiled.

"Remind me to show you the uses of the Lotus Tile some day." They shared a laugh at that, and finished their tea. By the time she left, it was very late.

She did not go straight back to her hut, but instead walked around the village, letting her mind absorb the events of the night and prepare herself for the possibility of another nightmare. That is when the huge hulking shadow blocked her way.

She had never been close enough to the flying bison to get a good look, and had only gotten a hint of its size when she'd fought with the Kyoshi warriors. The creature before her was massive, it's head almost as large as the hut she was living in. She knew it could carry at least four people, but estimated it could hold three times that without tiring.

It was glowering at her, and she unconsciously stepped back, startled.

"Hello," she said, in as soft a voice she could muster, which, to her shame, wavered slightly. "You're probably very upset with me."

The beast snorted, blowing her hair back. She trembled slightly, then straightened. "I'm sorry I frightened you before. You have a right to be angry."

The creature seemed to be used to being spoken to as if it could be understood, but lowered its horns, not taking its eyes off of her. She swallowed.

"You should know... I'm here to help your friend now." She swallows again as it blinked. "I..." She felt, suddenly, stupid, and looked away. "I don't know why I'm explaining myself to you. I don't even you for certain if you can understand me." Azula sighed and crossed her arms. "I guess I'm tired of everyone around her reacting like you did just now. Like I'm going to blast them in the face with a fireball or something."

The bison raised its head, blinking, and she looked it in the eye. There was a great sense of intelligence in those eyes. "I really do want to help Aang end this war, you know."

Another snort came, but softer. He stepped forward, and Azula's heart skipped a beat as it leaned it's head in.

Then it's giant, wet tongue came out and slathered her with saliva. "Oh, disgusting," she moaned, but a smile was on her face. It was just too ridiculous to not be funny.

"He likes apples," came a voice from behind the bison, and Azula strained to see. It was Toph, walking with confidence in the dark. She was smiling, and speaking very low. Before Azula could ask, she pointed vaguely to one of her ears. "That stupid meeting made my ears buzz. It's hard to sleep when that happens. So I walk around until it goes away." She patted the bison fondly. "Appa here's very comforting, soundwise. It's like rain on a stone roof, only deeper."

"Are you OK, then?" Azula had always thought she'd like the girl, so it was easy to relax around her. Besides, she'd been on the receiving end of her particular Bending style, and it would be better to make this one a friend than an enemy.

"I'll be fine," she said, waving her hand. "How about you?"

Azula smiled thinly, forgetting that the other girl couldn't possibly know she was smiling. "The same. I'll be fine, eventually." She pointed to the bison, then smirked, again having forgotten that Toph couldn't see the gesture. "Is he always this friendly?"

Toph shrugged, then wrinkled her nose. "From the smell of things, he definitely likes you. Ugh, Bison breath."

Azula laughed.

* * *

_A lot of this story wouldn't have been very good if not for Invader K, my beta, who is both patient and thoughtful. Thank you, IK, You rock like an Earth Bender._

_I apologize, again, for how long it took. I was swamped at work, I have a guild in my MMO that's taking off, and I just... went through a rough time. So I had to force motivation at times. I hope this chapter doesn't reflect that._

_This is also the most graphic I've gotten, both sensually and violently, in some time. I don't think I've done anything you can't find in, say, RL Stine, so the rating stays. But it should get worse than this, either._

_Reviews will make me happy! ___


	15. Tipped

Azula's days became a series of mundanities that would have, in the past, driven her insane. Now, however, with her nights being so hectic and frightening, the day-to-day normalcy was a reassurance that she came to treasure.

She would rise early to train, joined by Ty Lee and Mai, who would alternately watch and spar with her or each other, depending on the situation. She still had not been able to call lightning to her, but instead of trying to work that out, she pushed it aside. There was plenty in her arsenal for her to be effective without crippling herself over the one loss.

Afterwards, the three Fire Nation women would go into the village for breakfast. When they first began this routine, they were greeted with suspicion and derision. Over the week or so since they'd arrived, the suspicion gave way to, if not friendliness, then at least cordiality.

As the day went on, they would, from time to time, come across a training session between one or the other of the islands guests. More than once Aang was involved, being shouted out by Toph, or gently guided by Katara, or drinking tea with Iroh as the elder Firebender explained some odd concept that Azula certainly had never learned.

Afterward Mai and Ty Lee would wander off to pursue their own interests, and Azula would find Appa and spend a little time with the giant bison. Usually she would meet Toph there. She had been right: The two had become rather friendly with each other.

"What is it like?" she asked, one day when the sun was shining and Appa was snoring and lulling her into a sense of sleepy euphoria. Toph's little girl voice, so at odds with her toughness and strength, sounded from the other side of the bison's back, where the two lay.

"What is what like?"

Azula paused, having not meant to ask out loud in the first place. She shrugged and pressed on, seeing no reason to stop. "Being blind."

There was silence for a long while, which Azula finally broke, self-consciously. "I don't mean to pry—"

"Yes you do." The voice was matter-of-fact, even filled with a small amount of teasing, and Azula relaxed.

"Yes I do," she acknowledged. "But if it upsets you, forget it."

"Nah," Toph said, waving a hand lazily in the air. "I just don't really know how to explain it." She paused again, then continued, thoughtfully. "I've never been able to see like everyone else. If it hadn't been for my parents, I wouldn't have known anything was different about me. It was just dark. Then I began to..." She paused, smirking, "feel things. Through my feet. And I could tell where walls and people were." Azula could feel the girl shrug through Appa's hide. "But my dad, he just wouldn't believe I was fine, or could be fine. I learned to use that, too, but you didn't ask about that."

Azula was smiling. Everyone probably saw Toph's blindness as a weakness, but she used it as a strength. It made her very admirable.

"So, what about you, Spitfire? What's it like being a prodigy?" Toph's voice was amused, especially at the nickname she had come up with, and Azula smiled again.

"Spitfire, hmm," she asked, avoiding the subject. "Do you have little nicknames for everyone?"

"Just about," Toph laughed.

"What's the one for Zuko?"

"Sokka came up with that one. Angry Jerk."

"Fitting."

They lazed on Appa's back for a short while until a strident voice came from the edge of the clearing.

"It's _tradition_, Sokka! We have always fought this way, and it's proven very effective!" The leader of the Kyoshi warriors was striding out of the small forest, visibly upset, followed by Katara's brother.

"I get that, Suki, I really do," Sokka said, in a voice that was trying to be both firm and conciliatory and failing miserably at both. "But all this 'plant your feet' stuff doesn't work well against Fire Nation tactics!" He put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her, not using enough force to turn her around. "Look, we warriors fight in like our element, I get that now, but it's just not effective for you!"

Suki crossed her arms, still not turning. "It worked when the Fire Nation attacked the village last spring! And it kept us alive when that... Fire Nation Witch and her little cronies attacked us weeks ago!" She spun, angry, and pointed an accusing finger at him. Unfortunately, at that very moment, Sokka had noticed Ty Lee and Mai coming out from another part of the forest.

"Hey, Ty Lee!" He waved, motioning her over. Ty Lee, for once in her life, looked stunned, walking over warily. And rightly so, because Suki looked like she might attack her at any moment.

"Oh, this I gotta see," whispered Toph, who slid down from Appa and leaned against him, her feet now firmly planted on the ground. Azula stayed on the Bison's back, but turned to get a better view of her friends and the warriors.

Sokka was talking animatedly. "—and I want to show her something. Help me out, OK?"

Ty Lee nodded, mutely, flushing ever so slightly. Azula narrowed her eyes as Sokka took up a stance in front of her, turning his head to look at the now livid Suki, evidently still too dense to realize what was happening beyond his demonstration. "Now, this is you guys, OK?"

He motioned for Ty Lee to attack, who, after a moment's hesitation, leapt at him and began to flip around and around him. Sokka stood still, planting his feet except where he must turn, giving no ground but also taking none. Ty Lee landed some blows, which were punctuated by grunts. Azula could see that the acrobat was going lighter than even the usual spar, but Sokka's point was still effectively made. For every strike he turned away, three more landed.

Sokka stepped out of range, and Ty Lee, seeing the signal to end, did not press. "Did you see that?" he said, turning to Suki, who looked thoughtful but still angry. "I mean, it's good, it's effective, but Fire Style is constantly in motion. Now, watch." He once again signaled for Ty Lee to advance, which she now did eagerly. Instead of standing in one place, Sokka began to move, twisting his body just enough that each strike either passed by or glanced off of him. Even the blows she managed to land were lessened by the other warriors movements. Azula remembered, vaguely, Ty Lee fighting with the Water Triber and declaring that it was like they were dancing. This time, it truly seemed as if they were. From the occasional glace at the Kyoshi Warrior, she wasn't the only one who saw it.

Finally Sokka backed away, breathing heavily and smiling, just a little bit. Ty Lee let out a whoop of pure joy, beaming, and for one tense second Azula was sure she was going to throw herself at Sokka and hug him. The moment passed, however, without incident. Sokka turned to Suki, still not seeing the stormy countenance, and took a thoughtful pose. "That was mostly Water Tribe, but there was some of what you taught me in there, and I incorporated some of Fire Nations stances, too... it's kind of Avatar style!"

Ty Lee let out a laugh, and even Azula had to smile a bit. All levity ceased, however, when Suki's low voice growled out.

"Fine." Her face was lowered so far that no one could see it past her hair, and her fists were clenched. "Fine," she said again, and turned and strode off, quickly.

Sokka looked stunned. "Hey, wait!" He said, trailing after her. He turned quickly and smiled sadly. "Thanks, Ty Lee," he called before he ran after Suki.

Ty Lee looked immensely happy, then, as if struck by the implications of recent events, her face fell. She looked at Azula, noticing her for the first time, it seemed. Then she ran off, her face red as a beet.

"This isn't going to end well," came a low, husky voice beside them. Azula glanced over at Mai, who was standing with Zuko at her side. Both were looking in the direction that Ty Lee had run.

"No, it's not."

Toph snorted next to them. Her arms were crossed, and she was fairly glaring in Sokka's direction. "Sokka's an idiot," she snarled, going off in her own direction.

"Not well at all."

* * *

Azula was sitting by the water when Zuko walked up to her. He stood behind her, a decent distance off, politely waiting for her to acknowledge him. She did not, but he seemed to have learned patience since he had left her in Ba Sing Se.

In truth, she didn't have any recollection of him coming up behind her, and that only fueled the worry that had brought her to sit near the water, the waves rhythm calming her and allowing her to try to make sense of the tangle of her thoughts.

The biggest thing that weighed on her mind was that she hadn't seen coming many of the things that had happened. Almost from the beginning, as she thought about it, things were taking her by surprise. Her father attacking her friends, Warau becoming a large presence in her life in a short time, Warau dying. Even their situation on this island was a day-to-day journey of small surprises. It had been nice when it little things like the Avatar trusting her, and the subsequent friendships. But now it was hurting her friends.

How long had Ty Lee been infatuated with the Water Tribe Warrior? How long had it been more to her than innocent flirting (or, better for them, distracting flirting) and torture of the Kyoshi Warrior? _Why hadn't I seen this coming?_

She usually had plans and back up plans and escapes for every contingency. Now she was being caught flatfooted by something that wouldn't even have mattered before.

"So," she said, deciding to take a break from her worries, possibly by baiting her brother. "Did you see the Water Tribe's little demonstration?"

"Most of it," he answered evenly. "I didn't know why he was letting Ty Lee beat him up when we first showed up."

That was interesting. We. So Mai was with him the entire time. Not hearing Mai's approach was par for the course, but Zuko was hardly subtle at the best of times. _And he did surprise me just now..._

"What do you think?" she asked, sincerely. Perhaps he could spot something she'd missed, from a male perspective. As disturbing as thinking of Zuko as particularly male might be.

"I think he has a point."

"What?" Had Sokka said something that he'd missed?

"Earth Kingdom styles are typically steady and non-moving. Fire Nation tends to plow right through them after a while."

Azula's mind was completely off of that path, and she had to take a moment to regroup. "The Kyoshi warriors were trained by Avatar Kyoshi. They integrate a lot more than just Earth Kingdom forms into their combat." She looked back over her shoulder, smirking at Zuko's perplexed frown. "For Agni's sake, they use _fans_, Zuzu-"

"Stop calling me that," he replied automatically.

"—which is a typical Airbending weapon."

"There haven't been Airbenders around for a hundred years, Azu—"

"Stop calling _me _that!"

"—How would you know what typical Airbending weapons are?"

Azula smiled, a comfortable, familiar smile, but tinged with mischief instead of the usual malice. "Because, unlike you, _dear _Zuzu, I do my research."

Zuko crossed his arms and huffed, but there was no real anger in it. They lapsed into silence. In fact, she thought she heard him begin to turn, then hesitate, as if struggling with the choice of leaving or staying. Finally, he turned back.

"Are you all right, Azu?" His question was strained. She could tell he was trying to save face by sounding disinterested. The true concern of his words carried through as an undercurrent, and made her turn.

He was looking away, and she sighed. It was enough, for now, that he had even asked. He wouldn't be comfortable with any more concerned displays, and she had no desire to tell him what private wars waged in her mind. "I'm—" The word 'fine' caught in her throat, and detoured sharply. "Not sure."

He looked at her, then, raising a brow. Azula pressed her lips together, then huffed a sigh. "I'm off my center. That's the best way I can explain it." She stood, brushing sand from her breeches. "Everything's shifted, and I can't..." She trailed off, unable to explain it further. Zuko nodded, though, as if he understood perfectly.

"When I came to help you back at Ba Sing Se..." He stopped, then pressed on, haltingly. "I wasn't sure I was going to go through my plan to desert you later. I thought, maybe you were right. Maybe I had restored my honor." He shrugged. "Then I remembered how I had wanted to give up, and doubted everything, while I chased the Avatar, but didn't let my doubts stop me. So I had to commit. See?"

"Not really," Azula admitted. Zuko shrugged, sighing.

"I think I understand how Uncle feels." He turned and walked away.

"Zuko," Azula called, softly, just enough to penetrate the sound of the waves. He turned, slightly, and she hesitated. She was going to say that Mai was a good influence on him, but thought better of it. If he didn't realize yet that she _was_ an influence, telling him so would only frighten him off. She was at least aware enough to know when not to meddle.

"Thank you," she finished, weakly. It seemed to be enough, surprising him and making him smile, just a little.

* * *

Mai and Ty Lee had returned to the hut before her. Mai was at the table, reading a scroll, and Ty Lee was against the wall, looking distractedly into the corner. The distraction followed her through dinner. Finally, as they cleaned the bowls that had held soup and rice, she spoke up.

"Have either of you ever... liked... someone?"

Mai nearly snorted, a decidedly undignified sound for her, and Ty Lee's face broke into a ghost of her usual smile. "OK, OK," the acrobat said, giggling, then turned to Azula. "What about you?"

"I'm going to bed," Azula announced, eliciting an 'Aw' from Ty Lee and a more delicate snort from Mai. The truth was... embarrassing. She had never taken the time to _look_, let alone find.

She went to her bedroll, decidedly ignoring the soft chatter from Ty Lee and Mai, and let herself drift to sleep.

_It... She... was hunting the Other. She knew the Other was there, watching, never interfering, trembling in fear and disgust, and tired of the watching. She wanted her place _back_. She wanted the life that had always been denied Her._

_Seeking the little coward never worked. The Other only watched when others that were 'cared for' were being 'hurt'. And as much as She wished she could fulfill these little fantasies, in a way this was better. They always came back, saving Her the trouble of finding new victims._

_So She tortured the warrior that the coward (and Her, if She was honest with herself) found slightly attractive. And the new little blind friend was hung in an empty pit with no sound or feeling save for the ropes burning her wrists (she screamed after a few hours of no other sensation. Good times). And the Waterbending Witch was gutted, slowly, for the Avatar's viewing. And Mai was kissed, thoroughly, before she, too, felt a knife in her belly. And still nothing happened. She wanted to scream in frustration. Finally, She seized upon the one She felt had been prevented from touching, wrenching it free of it's bonds and beginning the delightful tasking of making the little laughing girl scream._

"_STOP!"_

_The coward revealed herself, small and weak, but pulsing with anger. With each pulse She felt herself grow dimmer, weakening, and secretly, she was afraid._

"_It's about time you showed up," She said, sneering at the Other. "I want my life back!" Fear had made her anxious, and she showed it with aggression._

"_No," the Other said, calmly. "I won't let you do to Them what you've been showing me every night."_

"_You won't _let_ me?!" She screeched with laughter. "You can't _stop_ me, you little coward!"_

_There was no battle cry, no scream, but the Other attacked, sending a jet of flame that was barely avoided and following it with a kick. Oh, how She grinned at this, Anger was making the Other strong, but sloppy, and combat was Her specialty. The Other stood no chance._

* * *

Azula sat up, quickly but not panicked. From the other side of the room, Mai and Ty Lee, evidently still discussing the previous topic, looked at her, Mai's face blank, Ty Lee's wide eyed and just beginning a rueful smile. "You OK, Azula?"

Azula felt the smile on her own face grow, so familiar and easy, like a well worn tunic. As it did, Ty Lee's faded, and Mai's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, yes, girls," Azula said, in the low, smooth voice she felt she hadn't heard in some time. "I'm perfectly fine now."

* * *

A/N: Once again, and from now on, I must thank Invader K (who I think I've finally started spelling it RIGHT, or at least as intended) who is the most awesome of betas.

_  
_Furthermore, I must express my delight at all my reviewers. I couldn't keep going without you all!

I think I touched on 5 or 6 major ships (Soki, Tokka, Azulokka, Ty Lokka, Mauzula, and I might have missed one), which proves 2 things: Sokka is NOT a player, he's the game, and don't try to guess the ships in any of my stories…

CauseIDon'tEvenKnowMyself...


	16. Turnabout

They sat in a triangle Facing each other, able to make eye contact with any one of the others at any time. Azula used this to her advantage, locking eyes with Mai, then Ty Lee, in succession, slowly, as each point was made. Mai's gaze was solid, almost unblinking. She narrowed her eyes a lot, and glared a little, but said nothing. Ty Lee's eyes were full of emotion, ranging from anger to sadness, but she, too, remained silent, chewing her lip all the while.

Azula spoke in low, even tones, the voice she used when she could not afford mistakes nor would she tolerate them. It worked on her troops at all times, but only recent events showed her why it had ever worked on someone as strong willed as Mai had proven to be.

She quashed that thought before it could properly form and moved on.

Ty Lee was shaking her head, but Azula ignored it. When she came to the end of her plan, for that's exactly what she was telling her friends, the plan for finally bringing an end to the war, Mai, too, was shaking her head.

"What," she finally asked, exasperated, but also knowing Mai wouldn't disagree unless there was a problem. Or her clothes were going to get messy. Or there was a bear involved.

"Zuko will never agree to this." Her face was set, betraying no emotion. Even her eyes, which had been windows to her thoughts, had closed over.

"That isn't my problem," Azula said, evenly and with no trace of anger. Mai's eyebrow raised, but the Princess went on. "It will be yours. If anyone can convince him, you can."

If anything, Mai's eyes closed off more, but she nodded as if she had come up with the plan herself. And she probably had.

Ty Lee shook her head one more time, then said in a shaky voice, "No."

Azula turned to her, putting the full power of her focused mind and pinning Ty Lee with it. "What do you mean, 'No'?"

Ty Lee would not look at her, but stared at the ground. She sniffed once before she spoke again. "No. I won't do it."

Azula's eyes narrowed, and she seethed inwardly. Her mind worked furiously, making adjustments and re-planning contingencies. Her voice was even, and laced with a coldness that she had never heard before. "You won't?" She almost stood, almost circled, but instead waited until Ty Lee looked at her, which took minutes longer than she expected. "Then I don't need you," she said, quietly, "and you need to leave."

Ty Lee looked as if Azula had reached out and slapped her in the face. Instead of sobbing, however, she rose and turned, standing rigidly for a few short seconds before she strode out the door, into the darkness. She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Warau would be _so_ proud," she spat before finally walking out the door.

Azula could feel the blood drain from her face. She turned to Mai. "And you?," She had to swallow to make her throat work. "Will you abandon me as well?" She watched Mai, who's face did not change, so that even her eyes were unreadable. For the first time, Azula could understand why Mai was a fearsome warrior. Not because she was skilled, though she was, but because her opponent would never be able to read her unless she allowed it.

"No," Mai finally said, her voice quiet. "I'll back you."

Before Azula could do much more than nod, she had risen, crossed silently to the doorway, and left.

* * *

When she woke up the following morning, the first thing she noticed was that her heart was not beating frantically, nor was she sitting up. It was, after the weeks of waking from nightmares, an odd, slightly disconcerting experience.

The next thing she'd noticed was that neither Mai nor Ty Lee were there, and that left her with an empty feeling.

She rose and walked out. Her friends were not around, and she wasn't particularly hungry, so she went to the place Appa usually was found. Startlingly, she found Toph there, sitting on the Bison's back, her arms crossed on her knees. She looked forlorn. Azula strode up to the pair, being as silent as she could. She was five feet away when the Earth Bender rose her head.

"What's it like?"

Azula blinked. "What's what like?"

"Being a Princess. Being... respected."

What a different answer she would have given just yesterday! As it was, she had to hold her tongue to quit from blurting out that she should get over herself. The silence must have been longer than Toph expected, because she slid off of Appa's back and waved a hand. "Forget it," she murmured, trying, it seemed, to be tough, but coming out a little bit pathetic.

"Have you looked around?" Azula gestured with her hands with each name before Toph could remind her that, no, she hadn't done much in the way of "looking" ever. "Aang respects you and calls you his Master, Iroh counts you as one of his friends, which is harder than it looks. Even _Zuko_ doesn't treat you like a peasant. So I think I just don't understand the question." The words came out carelessly, and, in truth, she did find that this wasn't important to her at the moment.

"You're right," the other girl half snarled. "You don't understand."

"So explain," Azula drawled acidly, making a show of examining her nails despite the knowledge that the other girl couldn't see it.

Toph was silent, and then suddenly exploded. "That _idiot_ Sokka!" She leapt away from Appa's back, or perhaps was propelled, as the bison was startled by her outburst. Regardless of the origin, she landed on the ground and paced. "He hovers over Suki, he lets _your_ little friend cling to him, and to me he doesn't even discuss the weather! What do _they _have that I don't?! And if you say eyesight," she snarled, pointing at her without facing her, "I will launch you so far up you'll be able to touch the sun!"

Azula didn't say eyesight (though the thought did cross her mind briefly), but waited until Toph's rant degenerated into slight frustrated grunts and deep, chest heaving panting, to speak.

"You're wasting your time," she said, when it seemed that the younger girl would not continue. Toph looked up, turning her head so that her ear faced Azula.

"Excuse me?"

"There is a war on. There are more important things to think about than whether some _boy_ is attracted to you. Besides," she inserted idly, "you're, what, twelve? Of course he's going to pay more attention to them than you. They have... more... to offer."

It was obvious that Toph was not happy to hear any of this, but Azula could not think of another way to say it, nor did she want to waste time trying. Toph scowled, then marched away, stiffly, doing her best to keep her dignity intact before she reached the edge of the forest. No doubt she would break into tears as soon as she did, but Azula didn't concern herself with that.

Once the girl was gone, she turned to Appa and smiled.

* * *

One thing Azula had always taken pleasure in was the look of surprise she got whenever she appeared somewhere she was not expected. One could say, on analysis, that she allowed herself to show her age, had she ever shown the girlish glee she felt at that particular moment. She never let it show, but it did not diminish her enjoyment of it one bit.

When the captain of the lone fire nation ship patrolling the waters closest to Kyoshi entered his stateroom, the look on his face was absolutely priceless.

"What are you doing in my-" He started, before Azula stood from behind his desk and let light shine on her face.

"You!"

"Yes, me," She crooned, stepping from around the desk, her eyes never once leaving his. He took in a breath, likely to call for his guards, but hadn't done so before she was standing in front of him, pinning him with her golden eyes.

"Have you forgotten who I am," she said in a low, dangerous voice. The captain swallowed visibly, but that was the only sign that he feared her.

"You have, evidently," he said, mastering the quaver in his voice by the third word. "Rumor has it you've attacked the Fire Lord himself, and killed a Fire Nation commander!"

Azula raised an eyebrow. "The Fire Nation listens to rumors, do we?" She stepped closer, internally satisfied when he stepped back and bumped into the bulkhead. "You really _have _forgotten who I am, if you believe that I did anything without a plan."

The Captain's eyes narrowed. It had been ingrained in the soldier's training to obey her at all times. The same training had never applied to Zuko, because sons were traditionally a threat to the current Fire Lord as well as a assurance that the line would continue. The system was poorly flawed, but, then, she always knew when to use flaws to her advantage.

"I need a ship. Tonight. This one will do."

The Captain sputtered, stepping past her and then turning to face her. "You are wanted by order of the Fire Lord for crimes against the Fire Nation! And you expect to commandeer my ship?!"

"Yes," she answered, smiling disarmingly. "And it will serve you well to allow it."

"Why shouldn't I just capture you and take you to the Fire Lord myself," he asked, sneering. The man was either brave or stupid. She knew too much about the Fire Nation navy to assume the first.

"Because I am going to the Fire Lord on my own," she said, allowing a cold note to enter her voice. "And I'm bringing the Avatar and all of his little friends with me."

If the Captain had paled before, he was as white as a cloud now. "Th- The Avatar?" She could see his eyes dance in the visions of grandeur. She let him have his thoughts, for now.

"I told you, I had a plan." Azula walked to the door and smiled at the captain. "At 10 o'candle. No later. Go to the island on your east, there is a coast on the southeastern corner. Be there. I will bring the Avatar to the ship myself."

She did not wait for him to answer one way or the other, but left the cabin and headed for the railing. He would, if she read him correctly, try to stop her. She had to be gone before he could get over his pre-occupation with the Avatar.

That he would be at the cove, she had no doubt. To one such as he, a small chance at glory was better than no chance at all.

* * *

They had taken to meeting after the Kyoshi Island council, and now were sitting in a circle around the fire. Suki was conspicuous in her absence, but it was still early, and she might have been arguing with the council still. It didn't matter. It served Azula's purposes that she wasn't here.

Ty Lee wasn't there either, and that was much more worrisome.

Azula positioned herself nearest the Avatar, looking around at the group to see if they suspected anything. Mai's face was stone, and she would not look at Azula for longer than a glance. She chose, for now, to ignore it. Mai said she would back her, and Mai never lied.

Sokka wearily went over the same facts as the last meeting, as if searching for a way to make it work. It never would. She had come to that conclusion upon waking up the night before. It would never work because it assumed too much about the Fire Nation, too much that was simply untrue.

These people, let alone the Avatar, were all too trusting.

Toph's face was somber, and though she listened intently, she was distracted. She seemed to twitch whenever Sokka spoke. The rest were listening, but seemed to believe as Azula did. That nothing would change, that this plan could not work, and that they would attempt it despite its flaws.

Just as Sokka finished, looking desperately around for an idea that would make this foolish plan work, Azula caught his eye. He seemed relieved when she said, "I've just come up with an idea."

The group turned, and Katara, to the Avatar's right and Mai's left, turned her back to Azula's friend. She smiled a cold smile. "Why don't you all get captured."

Like lightning, her hand snaked out and grabbed Aang by the wrist, pulling him against her. The other lifted to his temple surrounded by blue flames.

At the same time, Mai grabbed Katara and pulled her backwards, holding a dagger to her throat.

Before the rest of them could move, Azula pulled Aang closer. "You have a choice. We can end this now, without any fighting, or I can simply save my father the trouble of the avatar for another twenty years." She moved her hand closer to Aang's temple, her face close to his other ear. "And if you get any ideas, little man, Mai knows what to do." She could feel Aang looking at Mai with Katara, and felt him relax slightly.

"Good idea."

A scream pierced the clearing, and Azula spun, still holding Aang. Suki came charging from the forest, her sword held high. Azula could not defend herself and hold on to Aang at the same time. Just before the warrior reached her, another blur from her side intersected the charging girl's form, and she slid by, bonelessly, landing in a heap at Sokka's feet.

Ty Lee stood between Azula and the rest, her eyes pinned on Sokka's. From the look on Sokka's face, where confusion was giving way to anger, she was not staring at him with loving eyes.

"Ty--" Azula started, still swallowing her surprise at the attack.

"Don't _talk_ to me," the acrobat hissed. "Just get this over with."

Azula said nothing, but nodded. "You're all invited," she said, hiding the shake in her voice with an oily tone, "to spend time as guests to the Fire Nation. My ship," she indicated the way to the cove with her chin, "will bring us all there." When no one moved, she yanked Aang close, the fire in her hand dangerously close to his cheek. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

One by one, starting with Sokka, the rest of them made their way to where the Fire Nation ship waited. Toph's hands were clenching and unclenching, but Iroh seemed, if not at peace, then at least resigned to his fate. Zuko brought up the rear, his face full of contempt.

"How many people are you going to betray before this is over," he snarled. Azula grinned at him.

"Oh, but Zuzu... you're the one that gave me the idea in the first place. I'm surprised you didn't catch on before now." Zuko's face paled, and he turned angrily to follow the others.

His words echoed in her mind as she brought up the rear, forcing Aang forward.

* * *

A/N: Once again, much love to all of you, because without _all_ of your comments, I would quickly lose the desire to write.

And Invaderk, who is most patient, encouraging, and flawless with the grammering :)


	17. Voyage

The procession to the cove went uninterrupted, silent save for the shuffling of feet on the dirt trail leading from the clearing and the unintelligible snarls and moans from the crumpled warrior in the middle of it. For a brief moment, Azula's heart went out to the warrior. She quickly squashed the impulse. If the girl had been as untrusting as she had always acted, she should have done something about it long before then.

The Avatar in her arms tensed as the Fire Nation ship appeared through the trees, and she leaned down to whisper in his ear. "_I_ know you're not afraid to die, Avatar," she purred. "So I won't kill _you_ if you resist." She looked pointedly over his shoulder to Katara, who was still being held by Mai.

Aang stiffened more, but moved his legs. Azula smiled. "If you touch her," he began through his teeth, but she shook him just hard enough to stop the thought.

"If I touch her, it will be because you are resisting me." She hissed in his ear, pulling his arm a little farther up on his back. "As long as you come quietly, and your little underlings follow suit, you won't have anything at all to fear. From me," she finished, grinning. "I can't speak for Ozai."

Ahead, Katara twisted a bit in Mai's grip, but nothing came of it. Aang slumped a bit, defeated.

Azula glanced behind. Ty Lee had fallen behind and was pulling a reluctant Sokka by his arm. Her grip was tight, but he didn't complain about it. Instead, he seemed to be whispering to her, urgently. Ty Lee's face became more and more stormy.

"Shut _up_!" She had finally exploded and rounded on the warrior. "Just shut up! I don't _know_, all right?!" Her voice was quivering with anger and some kind of desperation, and everyone had stopped to watch. Sokka opened his mouth to speak, but Ty Lee's hand snaked out, jabbing a nerve center. Sokka clutched at his throat, breathing, but unable to speak. Ty Lee grabbed his arm again and yanked him roughly toward the ship, scowling deeply as she passed Azula. Sokka's face was red with anger.

They reached the ship. Ty Lee has stopped at the bottom of the gangplank, looking up warily. Sokka's face was similarly arranged, and Azula followed their gazes. At the top was the captain of the ship, grinning like a spider monkey that had caught a buzzard wasp, surrounded by sailors holding halberds and hammers.

"Ah, the fugitives have arrived. Seize them, men, and put them in the hold immediately." His grin broadened. "Except for the "princess". I want her in my cabin. For myself.

Azula rolled his eyes and stepped forward. "What is the meaning of this?"

The Captain scoffed. "They say you're brilliant. I haven't seen it yet. The meaning is clear, Princess. I'm taking the prisoners to Fire Lord Ozai. _All_ of the prisoners." His grin slipped into place again, and with a gesture his men made their way down the gang plank.

She could sense those around her, allies and prisoners alike, brace themselves for a battle. She walked to the front of the group, still holding onto the Avatar's arm. "Stop!"

The men stopped, and she met the eyes of each one that wasn't wearing the armored mask of a soldier. "This is the Avatar. The only person with the power to stop us from winning this war. The one who has eluded capture from our best agents for the better part of the year." She pulled him closer, in front of her, as a shield. "And _I_ have captured him. He is _my_ prisoner. I am taking him to our father to show that I am, and have always been, on his side." She gazed into the crowd, her eyes narrowing. "Anyone who helps me in this will be rewarded by my father." Glaring up at the Captain, she sneered. "Anyone who tries to stop me had better hope we drown at sea, because it is much, much more preferable than dying of burns."

She looked at the crowd again. None of them had moved. Her voice lowered, and she smiled, a triumphant smile. "My father is waiting for this moment. Let us not disappoint him."

The Captain smirked. "Enough of this. Seize the prisoners!"

"Yes, men," Azula called. "Seize the prisoner."

Almost as one the men turned, the ones nearest the Captain shifting their weapons to stave off any escape or attack from the man. He gaped. "Th-this is _mutiny_!"

Azula answered before any of the men could. "No, Captain." This time it was her turn to smile as the men cleared the gangplank and made a path for her to the Captain. "It's treason. Only it is you who were about to commit it." She thrust Aang into the arms of a guard. "See to it that he is put in the most secure room you have. Chain him off of the ground and away from the walls if you must. He is to come to _no harm._" The man saluted and dragged Aang away. He stared at her as he went, his face full of bitter disappointment.

Azula turned, ignoring the now struggling Katara and Toph. She glanced at Ty Lee, who pointedly looked away, and at Sokka, who looked at Ty Lee with something akin to morbid fascination. She turned to the Captain, who was glaring at another man next to him, one dressed similarly.

"You are the First Mate, then," Azula said, looking the man up and down. To the Captain's horror, the Mate bowed.

"Yes, your Highness."

"You're wrong."

The man blinked, his eyes shifting from side to side before resting on her again. "Many pardons, your Highness?"

She smiled, not unkindly. "You are the Captain now."

Pride showed in his eyes, and he bowed more deeply. "And what would you have us do with the rest of the prisoners?"

Katara regarded the Avatar's companions, nodding at each as she spoke. "The blind girl must be kept in a cabin made entirely of metal. Any dirt left in it will become a weapon, even the smallest amount. The water tribe girl must be kept in the center of the ship, away from any ports. The warrior can be left in a standard cell, but be sure he is watched. He likes to think he's sneaky." Men came to do her bidding, taking each by the arm. "Be sure they aren't harmed as well. I can't control the Avatar without them."

Katara spat and pulled free, gesturing with her hand. A wave of water, which detached itself from the ocean below, crested over the rail and hurtled at her, drenching her in brine and seaweed. Azula closed her eyes, breathing slowly until her anger was under control. It was no surprise to her that she was steaming when she did so.

The men surrounding her had their weapons out and looked as if they would attack. Azula spread her hands, pushing the men and the Water Tribe girl apart with a flash of blue flame, touching neither, but providing enough of a warning to both that the non-lethality was only temporary.

She stalked to Katara, meeting the cold blue eyes easily. "You can't get me to kill you that easily, little girl. I don't need a rampaging Avatar on my hands."

She then turned the full power of her glare on the men. "Does 'unharmed' mean something different for you?" The men stared back, but did not move. "Now put them in their cells, and if they are hurt in _any_ way other than where you grip them, there will be payment."

As they were lead away, The Mate cleared his throat. "What of the rest of the prisoners?"

Azula turned, seeing Zuko standing with his fists clenched, Iroh looking slightly bored and calm, with his hands in his sleeves, and the former captain, now looking rather frightened.

"I only see one prisoner. Leave _him_ here."

The Mate was, it seemed, surprised. "You said he committed treason, Princess!"

"No," she said, watching the former captain gleefully, "I said he had _attempted_ treason. Let the natives deal with him for that."

The man was lead away without ceremony. They heard a cry and a splash, and Azula raised a brow to the new Captain.

The Mate, surprisingly, smiled as he bowed. "We had already pulled back the gangplank in preparation for departure." He bowed, then looked askance at Iroh and Zuko.

"Find them quarters," she said without preamble. "Comfortable ones. They need to be presentable when I reunite our family."

Zuko hissed, but Iroh put a hand on his chest, still watching Azula. "Zuko, it would be rude to refuse such hospitality." He bowed to the New Captain and gestured for to be lead to quarters. Zuko glared at her a moment longer before he followed in Iroh's wake. Iroh was already asking about tea.

"Captain," she said, and the man turned and bowed. "I'm afraid you will need to delay your move to the Captains Quarters. My friends and I will need them for ourselves."

"As you wish, Princess," the man said, hiding his disappointment well.

"Pass," said Ty Lee, walking away before Azula could stop her. Mai, too, made to leave. Azula stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"You know what to do."

A cloud passed Mai's eyes, but she nodded and left. The former Mate escorted Azula to the Captain's quarters personally, and she nodded her thanks before shutting the doorway. She found the desk and sat in the chair, closing her eyes and covering her face, letting the events and all the tenseness of them pass over her for a long time.

* * *

The days passed slowly. Ty Lee slowly began to warm after the frostiness of the day of the capture, but she still watched Azula warily and wouldn't talk to her. Azula stopped trying after a day and a half. There was only six days until the eclipse, and she was having the ship to its limits to make it to the Fire Nation within five. The engineer had complained once, but had capitulated when reminded that a powerful Earth Bender, Water Bender, and the Avatar were all on board and wouldn't hesitate to take advantage if the eclipse happened while they were still at sea.

Mai was little different than Ty Lee, except that she seemed less stiff. Azula had no desire to explore the reasons Mai always had a smile on her face when she came back to their cabin, so they, too, didn't speak much.

She spent her days training and watching the horizon from the stern of the ship. Finally, on the third day, after watching a fist sized cloud on the horizon, she made her way to the brig.

She peeked into the small cell holding the Earth Bender, who, alerted to a presence, turned quickly. She wobbled on her feet, and was very pale. Looking to the corner, she could see why. Food was molding there, untouched except to be thrown there when it was delivered.

"That can't be pleasant for anyone with a sensitive nose."

"Get out of here!" Toph's voice was ragged, with a slightly hysterical edge to it. Azula met it with calm tones.

"You need to eat."

"Well, you need to fall off the ship into a group of ravenous sharkwhales." Toph crossed her arms and slumped against the wall.

Azula shook her head. "You need your strength. It's a day's travel from the harbor to the Palace grounds. I would really prefer that you were healthy during it."

"What's it like," sneered Toph.

"What?" Azula shook her head, about to complain that it was no time for their games when Toph spit.

"Being a liar."

Azula turned away, leaning back against the door, and sighed. "You think I'm lying, then?"

"I think every word you say is a lie. I think you're so used to lying, you're not even sure when you're lying." Toph's stomach rumbled loudly.

Azula sighed. "I'm sending food down. I will be told if you don't eat it. If you have to be held down and forced to eat... well, it won't be pleasant for anyone, will it?"

With a cry that caused Azula to turn, Toph was on her feet in a stance. She punched at the door, and the entire ship seemed to tremble as he door suddenly bowed out as if it were made of clay and she had punched it. Azula stared in awe.

"It won't be pleasant for _your _people, you mean," the Earth Bender snarled. Azula, however, grinned.

"It is 6 days until the eclipse. As a nation, we get... excitable when there is an eclipse. If you do something as surprising as that, I can't be held responsible for how my men react."

Toph's blind eyes widened, and she slumped against the wall, tapping on the floor idly, in a random pattern.

Azula turned away, then stopped feet from the door. "Food will be brought, and that mess will be cleaned up. Consider eating it instead of throwing it away."

She walked down the hallway to the sound of random yet incessant tapping, smiling as she went.

* * *

A/N: Whew! Most of this was written in the course of a day, so I apologize if it is worse than usual. I'm dealing with personal stuff right now (including the purchase of a new house) and am not able to concentrate on writing as much.

Thank you, as always, to Invaderk, without whom I would be... much messier than I am. Have you noticed the difference between Chapter four and now?

Thanks also go out to all of you, who continue to encourage me, and to those of you who offer constructive criticism. I treasure it all.


	18. Snares

_She was not restrained as Benders traditionally are, with their arms and legs spread out, suspended above the ground (only Airbenders could fight from such a weakened position). Instead, she was chained, her arms stretched behind her, locked against her ankles, which were bound together with heavy steel manacles. A collar around her neck was also chained to that, keeping her head back and her face up. She found herself briefly wondering who's sick fantasy she'd accidently wandered into._

_Her hair was loose and in her eyes instead of in its ceremonial queue, giving the effect of looking through the branches of a willow tree. The room was successfully obscured, but not completely. If she could have turned her head or shaken it, she could have seen, but the chain on her collar pulled her head back enough that shaking her hair back meant possible suffocation._

_She heard footsteps entering, then circling, and she stilled to listen more intently. She needn't have bothered. The steps came toward her, then resumed circling, slowly. A voice, her own voice, spoke in feigned calm. "Are you ready to cooperate?"_

_She echoed the tone and volume of the voice, inadvertently also mimicking the false serenity. "It would go faster if you killed me." There was silence for a time; a long, pensive silence. Finally she said, "You know you want to."_

"_You have no idea what I want," the voice said. The owner stopped in front of her, pushing the wild hair back. "We can stop this farce, you know."_

"_I tried." Now that she could see the face, she was filled with rage. The fact that she was bound made it infinitely worse._

_The other laughed. "I would hardly call what you did trying t—Nevermind." She waved her hand. "Think it over." With that, she stood and walked away._

_With a rattling of her chains, the first snarled. "I can think better when I'm free."_

_The other looked back. "You know... I don't remember putting you in chains."_

She woke, sighing. The dreams were not as terrifying as they had been before, but they were no less confusing.

Rising, she slipped her robe on and made her way from her cabin to the bow of the ship. Watching the water rush by was oddly soothing. It didn't take long for her dream fears to be eclipsed by the realities this journey ensconced; She was travelling with the Avatar to present him to the Fire Lord. The same man who, not long ago, tried to kill her and her friends. She knew she was playing with fire in a room filled with blasting jelly. She could only hope that the lure of the Avatar, trussed up and presented to him, would assuage his anger at her.

"Why are you doing this?"

The sound of the water had masked any footsteps coming behind her, and she turned, hands out in a defensive stance. After a second, she relaxed. "_Agni,_ Zuzu, don't do that."

His face twitched in annoyance, but he pressed on. "Why are you bringing the Avatar to Father?"

Azula leaned back against the railing. "You still haven't mastered the art of polite conversation, Zuzu. Even Uncle has taken the time to observe propriety. It is proper to greet someone before airing your grievances."

"You are family, and this is a private conversation in the dead of night, Azu," He said, not relaxing in the least. Azula smiled slightly, nodding acquiescence. At least he was _thinking_. "So answer my question." The pause showed how hard it was for him to say the next part. "Please."

Raising an eyebrow, Azula turned back to the ocean. Zuko stepped closer to hear her over the water. "I can't, Zuko," she said to the waves. "I'm not even sure I know myself."

"If you don't know, why are you doing it?" Zuko stepped closer. "This... I don't know what to make of this, Azula!"

"I don't know _why_, Zuzu," she said, turning back to face him, nose to chest with her taller brother, she was briefly brought to mind of many childhood arguments and had to quell a smile. "I only know it's _the right thing to do._" She glared him in the eye, daring him to refute her. He opened her mouth to do just that, and she sighed and backed away, crossing her arms. "If you have a better plan—"

"Mai says to trust you." Any response that might have been on the tip of her tongue jammed briefly in Azula's throat, allowing Zuko to continue. "It goes against everything I was raised to believe, but for now I do. But it would be much easier if you could give me a reason." He looked at her until she looked away.

"I can't, Brother." She shrugged, not turning to see his reaction. "I just know it has to be done."

There was no sound but the lapping of waves against the prow, and when she turned her head back to look at him, he was walking away.

She leaned against the railing and sighed, wishing, for the first time in her memory, that she could talk to her mother.

Docking a boat in the Fire Nation is an unusually tedious event, mostly because metal boats do not work well with wooden docks. Docking when one has powerful Benders as prisoners only made the process longer. Azula fidgeted, watching the Fire Nation soldiers enter the ship to gather the prisoners. She was surprised to see such a large contingent sent to escort her. Evidently her father had gotten more paranoid since she'd left.

None of the prisoners struggled, though the Water Tribe Warrior did cast a long, baleful look toward the deck when he was unloaded. A glance to her left revealed to Azula that he was looking at Ty Lee, who was watching him as well with a stricken look on her face.

The lack of a struggle or protest made her worry. If they had been harmed in any way, it could lead to a collapse in her plan. People who had been injured or tortured, or even led to believe they had been tortured, could grow desperate and unpredictable. That would not bode well.

She didn't have the time to think about it. As she stepped to the gangplank, the soldiers advanced on their position. She could feel Mai and Zuko tense up next to her, but she willed herself to remain calm.

The leader of the contingent, a Colonel Choi, stood rigidly in front of them, effectively blocking their egress. "You are also to be taken into custody, by Order of the Fire Lord!" His voice wavered as he announced it, and Azula was certain he gulped as she leveled her gaze at him.

"Is that so? Colonel, do you know who you've just removed from this ship?" Her brow arched, but she did not smile, even though the look of confusion on his face was actually quite funny.

"Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom rebels. The 'Captain' sent a hawk ahead." The Colonel straightened in an obvious attempt to intimidate her. She could not deny herself the giggle this time.

"The 'Captain' has been... replaced," Azula said, slowly, as if talking to a child. "He has refused to obey the orders of his Nation's Princess and Prince." She indicated herself and Zuko, who barely contained his surprise.

"You have been deemed traitors by the Fire Lord—" He started, cut off when Azula stepped forward and did her best to thrust her face into that of the slightly taller man's.

"The prisoners you have taken from this ship are the Avatar and his little rebel band!" She thrust her finger into his chest, causing him to step back slightly, giving her more room to advance. "_We_ have captured them,_ we_ have brought them here, and _we_ will have any perception of lost _honor,_" she spit the last word out as a curse, "corrected. And then where will you be, _Private_ Choi?"

It was at these last words, during the stumbling and stammering of a man too afraid to lose his rank that Azula noticed the deepening blush across the Colonel's face that she knew she had won. She leaned further forward, chest to chest, and whispered in the man's ear, "When my father finds you could not... _control_ your baser emotions in my presence, you will be lucky if there is anything left to court martial."

"Make way for the Prince and Princess," the Colonel shouted, his voice breaking. Azula lead the way down the gangplank, trembling in disgust. Ty Lee gasped as she passed him and cried out, "EW!"

Shortly after, there was a splash. The party looked back to see Iroh glowering at the water. When he noticed the attention, he smiled benignly and shrugged. "He did not leave enough room for a fat old man," he quipped gravely. A wave of affection rolled over Azula.

Azula picked up her pace to catch up with the carriage taking the shackled benders. Sokka was forced to march behind it, and as they passed, Ty Lee slowed to walk parallel to him. Azula wanted to call her to walk to the front, but then she noticed Mai and Zuko walking to the other side of the carriage. Mai had her hands in her sleeves, which, while not an unusual way for a Fire Nation Noble to walk, meant something different when Mai was involved. Iroh stayed near Azula in the front.

Soldiers rushed forward, lowering a sedan chair in front of her. "The royal gama, your Majesty," one of the carriers intoned deeply. It surprised her, and she nearly turned them away, but a nearly imperceptible shake of the head from Iroh caught her short. She climbed aboard wordlessly.

The men bearing her began to fall back, and she closed her eyes. "No, no, that will not do," she called, loud enough to be heard by the entire entourage. "I wish to be borne in front of the prisoners. I will lead them to my father, as in my right." The men hesitated, and she leaned back in the chair. "Let them gaze on the back of their doom."

The suggestion was followed at once, as if it were an order. She drew the curtains on the sides of her transport and put her head in her hands.

As the journey to the Fire Nation palace ground on, Azula began to become nervous. She peered toward the front of her gama and tried to stop her fingers from flexing over and over. Soon she could see the walls of the city, and watched them grow closer and closer.

They had not taken a break, and they were earlier than Azula had expected. She chewed her lip, then caught herself and closed her eyes, trying to center herself. It was not an easy task.

A commotion at the front of the convoy caused her to look up. She could see what looked like servants, leading an overly large komodo rhino to the gates. The guards there were detaining them. Azula huffed. "Take me to the front," she called to her bearers, who obeyed this time without delay.

When she arrived, she leaned out from the curtain. "What is the meaning of this?" she hissed. The guard and the leader of the party around the large rhino paused.

"They are attempting to enter the grounds. They say they are to prepare a banquet for the Fire Lord, but we have not been told of any preparations." He sneered at the young girl glaring defiantly at him from in front of the rhino.

"I see," Azula said, slowly, appraising the party. The leader turned her glare on Azula, a flash of fear crossing her face as she did so. After a long moment, the Princess turned the full force of her glare on the guard. "No word was sent to you? Do you think I would let the capture and imprisonment of the Avatar go unheralded?" A look of shock passed on the guards face, which Azula hoped distracted him from the mirrored look on the party leader's face. After he stammered for a moment, she roared out, "Open the gates, you imbecile!"

She had never seen the gates open that fast in her life. The men adjusted her gama, and Azula glared at the party leader. "And get a new animal. He looks sick and fat."

A snort issued from the beast, but anything else was lost to Azula, who was carried through the gates in front of the convoy.

Inside the gama, she rubbed the bridge of her nose, unsure whether to laugh or grit her teeth in frustration. The timing was better than she could have hoped, but still it was amateurish. It would have to do.

The gama was lowered, and she stepped from it, turning to the prisoners. Her uncle and brother, along with her friends, stepped forward to join her, tensed as if expecting an attack. She knew better. An antspider did not strike until the prey was well into the web.

They were lead into the inner chamber, her brother, uncle, and friends forming a loose phalanx behind the Avatar and his band of companions. The group of foreign Benders and warriors looked apprehensive and resigned. As the guards stepped forward to take their chains, Azula waved them aside. Ty Lee stepped up behind Sokka, her own gaze diverted to the ground. They walked to the Throne Room in silence.

As expected, Fire Nation guards lined the walls between the pots of fire. The heat was sweltering, and Azula thought that she saw Katara wilt ever so slightly. In truth, Azula thought she could sympathize with the girl. She had never felt as nervous as she did at this moment, with all of her careful plans and exploited luck hanging by the very precarious thread that was her father's mood.

She could see him, hidden in that the absence of flames cast on his throne. The effect was every bit as intimidating as he planned it, and Azula found herself desperately wishing to prostate herself, present the Avatar and his friends as prisoners, and beg for his forgiveness. As tempting as the idea was, she squashed it ruthlessly and with an internal sneer at herself. To weaken herself now would only destroy her careful planning.

They stopped between the last of the fire pots, facing the throne. Azula looked up at the Fire Lord, consciously holding her head high and her face impassive. To either side, Mai and Ty Lee stared straight ahead, reliving the last time they had appeared before the Fire Lord, if the sweat on their brows was any indication. At each end of their line, Zuko and Iroh gazed up with nearly identical expressions of cool detachment. A surge of pride for her brother's composure flitted uncertainly across Azula's chest.

Azula stepped forward, directly behind the Avatar, and spoke, loud enough to be heard throughout the Throne Room. "I have brought you—"

The Fire Lord laughed. "What you have brought me, my dear daughter," he said in that loud yet soft voice he always used to intimidate lesser citizens, "are fools, traitors, and the dead." He stood, walking down the steps in front of his throne, his arms crossing in front of his chest. I am curious, though. What makes you believe that any of you will leave here alive?"

She swallowed, silently thanking the elements, Agni, Ap, Anil, and Avani each in turn for her father's willingness to hear her out, however briefly. She raised her chin, staring daggers into the shadowed form of the Fire Lord. "Because, _Daddy_," she hissed, again loud enough to be heard through the great hall, "as you seem to be willing to forget, I have brought you Omashu. I have brought you Ba Sing Se, a feat that the great armies could not do but that I accomplished with myself and two women," She saw Ty Lee look down at the ground from the corner of her eye, and felt Mai stiffen, but pressed on," and brought you the prize you have sought your entire life." She pushed Aang forward, slightly, causing his chains to ring. "The Avatar."

The Fire Lord stepped forward again, and was nearly in the light when he stopped. "And the traitors?"

"Your heir is returned to you, redeemed. He brought me to the Avatar. He helped me subdue his cohorts. Uncle has taught Zuko many things which have proven useful." She shrugged, gesturing with the hand that was not still holding the Avatar's chains. "Do with him as you wish."

Iroh did not move, but Zuko began to turn, his face livid. Mai's hand seemed to quell him, for now. Azula did not have time to worry over it as the palace doors banged open and the servants from outside began to haul in giant stone casks and heating rocks.

"And I have prepared a feast to honor this night," Azula called, her father's face, now visible from having stepped forward at the noise blank with shock. "Bread from the Earth Kingdom, Fruit from Air Nomad lands, Fire Nation delicacies..." She glanced at Katara, smiling wickedly. Katara scowled back, but the pleasure of watching her face grow shocked was worth it. "And water from the Southern Water Tribe Glaciers."

"You TRAITOROUS—" Ozai began, but Toph stomped hard on the ground, causing the stone caps from the casks to explode into the air. Katara brought her hands up, as did Ozai, just as the sky began to darken.

Azula wanted to jump for joy. Instead she twisted the chains just before the sun was blotted out, loosening them as letting them fall from Aangs wrists. She called the words she had been waiting to say since they first boarded the ship.

"Now, Aang!"

I cannot possibly express my gratitude for Invaderk properly. She has been with me, encouraging and correcting, making sure those who have not written this story (meaning anyone not me) understand what I'm TRYING to say instead of me assuming that I am perfectly clear :D She has also taken her own time to do this. I owe her a debt of gratitude I can scarce repay.

Also, I owe RadiantBeam. Without Web of Lies, this story would likely never have been written, and rather than be upset that someone has tried to take over her story (which there is an argument for, since I blatantly meant for this to be a prequel until it took off in its own direction) she has been nothing but encouraging and pleased with my work.

Forlorn Maiden and talonlee have been sources of inspiration that have kept me going. Fire Lord Azula, BenRG, Sapphire Wolf Master, and several other (those named are those I have traded a few PMs with and I felt needed recognition for help they likely didn't even know they'd given...) have been a great joy. If I have missed anyone, know that you are invaluable as well, and that I apologize for missing you. This is a spur of the moment thank you, written in an odd place for a story that has at least 2 chapters to go . Thank ALL of you who review or even simply add the story to their watch list. Everytime I got a message that the story was added, or a review, I was compelled to write more. J

Finally, my apologies for the long wait. The move to the house and work have kept me from writing as quickly as I wanted. Hopefully, the next chapter will come out before February

J


	19. Full Circle

There is a type of beauty in the chaos of a battle's beginning. As the people around her recovered from the shock of a darkening sky and the apparent turn of fortune, Azula found herself taking the time to admire the beginnings of combat. Katara brought her hands down and around, pulling water from the cisterns and sweeping away Fire Nation soldiers around them. Toph stomped on the ground, raising a large wall of rock from the ground in front of the massive doorway, then turning to her left to deal with a set of rushing Fire Nation guards there. Sokka had relieved one guard of a weapon and was using it against the few who'd gotten past the benders. Aang merely faced the Fire Lord himself, bemused, but beginning to prepare for the arduous task before him.

Something was not right. Though the guards had been caught unprepared, Ozai was standing still, almost smiling, an expression on his face of one who was anticipating a joke who's punch line was imminent. Shadows moved behind his throne, flickering in ways that the fire from the pots around the throne could not account for. Toph snapped around suddenly, caught in the shoulder by a fist sized rock. Two agents of the Dai Li skulked from behind the throne, their eyes hidden by the sloped hats they wore.

"Your report about the Dai Li was very enlightening, Azula," Ozai sneered from behind them, even as Azula was confronted by Fire Nation guards who's training had finally overpowered their surprise. "They are, as you have said, very useful."

Azula had her hands full, and so was unable to answer her father directly. She dodged and parried attacks from three soldiers, her father's elite guards, trained from birth to do nothing but battle. She felt no fear fighting them, but they were distracting her from preventing the Dai Li from lowering Toph's stone wall from in front of the door. She cast about frantically, finding Ty Lee, Mai, Zuko, Iroh, Katara, and Sokka in a similar state. Aang had launched himself at the Fire Lord, who was reacting much as Azula was with the guards. Countering instead of striking, and avoiding when at all possible.

"Oh, no you don't," growled a diminutive voice, and the Dai Li were launched into the air, forced to break their concentration. In one spinning motion, Toph rose, sent two boulders at the two other Earth Benders, and faced the door. Her hands came together, a fist striking the other open palm, and the metal doors _crunched_. The gap between them sealed together, folding against each other like the join between two sheets of origami paper, rendering them impossible to open.

The guards who had positioned themselves next to the doors put their weapons down and backed away.

Katara was sweeping water around her with both hands, parrying blows from spears and staffs. Her hair flew behind her, unfettered and free, and her face shone with a type of righteous fury that Azula had only heard described, but had never seen.

Sokka and Ty Lee stood back to back, their combat flowing like the elements they represented. Sokka's blocks flowed into attacks which turned into parries, his more ingenious maneuvers sending one guard's strike against his opponents ally. Ty Lee, in the meantime, flipped and spun around and over him, striking at the guard whom Sokka was facing away from.

Suki and the three warriors that had entered with the cart were facing off against the remainder of the Fire Nation guards. Their training was as intense as the guards, and they were evenly matched. Azula knew they had to be particularly worried about the time. If the guards regained their Firebending before they could be subdued, all was lost.

Suddenly, from the high windows, four more warrior women in the full garb of their village dropped from ropes, throwing fans to the four inside. The battle turned decisively in their favor, and Azula turned her attention back to her opponents, briefly. They still had not gotten past her defenses, but reinforcements were making their way to her. They were interrupted by a hail of glinting daggers and a figure with two swords, who had taken up Azula's flanks. She nodded briefly to Mai, smiled slightly at Zuko, then turned her full attention to her fight.

It was over in seconds, and the three split up to help with other fights. Azula found herself near the Avatar and the Fire Lord. The ruler was dodging and parrying, his few counters meeting nothing as Aang changed his angle of attack. Stones, air, and even borrowed water and ice shards flew at Ozai, but nothing seemed to faze him. As the fight went on, Azula noticed that his smile broadened more and more.

Time was running out.

Despite Toph's closing of the Great Chamber, there seemed to be more than enough guards to occupy the invading forces well enough to keep them away from the Fire Lord. Her father was obviously prepared, but it was no matter. They had come this far, they would do what they could. Little could be helped by worries now.

Mai screamed, and she turned, ready to leap toward her friend. A blow to the head caused her to see stars, stumble, and fall. She struggling against the rising black, but finally succumbed to it.

_The Other attacked, sending a jet of flame that was barely avoided and following it with a kick. Oh, how She grinned at this, Anger was making the Other strong, but sloppy, and combat was Her specialty. The Other stood no chance._

_She dodged, quickly, side to side, goading the Other on with Her smile, Her taunts, until finally the Other overextended, and She caught the wrist and twisted, delighting in the snap. She held the Other close, molding Herself to the Other from behind, and brought forth Her hand, wreathed in blue flame from which a needle thin point extended. She let the other see it, felt the tension in the Other's body that proved the Other understood, and plunged the point into her ribs and screamed, pain arcing through her entire body. She shoved the Other away, falling backwards and scrabbling at the wound in her own side. The Other gasped and panted, but remained upright._

"_What have you done," she wailed. The Other stood, straightening slowly, painfully, and looked down at her with eyes filled with tears, hurt, and pity. She wanted to burn the pity off of her weak, hideous face._

"_Your face is my face," the Other sighed, rolling her eyes. "You are me. We are _one_. Why can't you see that?"_

"_Shut up," She cried, snarling and rearing back, trying to ignore the searing pain in her side. She tried to reach out and grab the Other, but Her hand stopped short. She snarled, looking at her wrist. She was shocked to see it bound by a chain._

_The Other ignored the chain and knelt in front of Her, wiping sweat from Her brow. Whimpering from the pain in her side, She pulled away. "I want my life back, Agni damn you!" She pulled against the chains (for another had appeared, and she could feel the weight of yet another on her ankle) and struggled. "I want control back!"_

"_If that is so," the Other said, softly, soothingly, "then why are you still weak from the wound you caused while I am getting stronger..?" Looking inward, she gasped. The Other was right. She was weakening. She was still in pain, and the Other showed no sign of it. She whimpered again._

"_I... I don't want to die," she said plaintively, hating the weakness in her voice._

_The Other straightened, looking down at her with the hateful pity still evident on her face. "This may come as a shock to you... but I don't want you to, either."_

"Azula!" The words, almost shrieked, pulled her from the memory in time for her to grab a striking lance and deflect the blow. She moved, franticly now, blocking and dodging and striking out to give herself room. How much time had passed, she wasn't certain, but the memory seemed to take place between one breath and the next, or she would have died. She cast about, seeing Ty Lee turn, reluctantly, to leap over a spear in the hands of another guard. Suki had joined them, and though the Kyoshi warrior cast scowls in Ty Lee and Sokka's direction, her blows and deflections melded perfectly with Sokka and Ty Lee's combative dance.

A sharp crack caused Azula to turn. A large rock had pierced the floor and launched the two Dai Li into the air, smacking them into the ceiling before they fell to the ground. Toph turned her head in Azula's direction and nodded, then turned to rejoin the battle.

Aang had Ozai backed against the throne, and finally seemed to be making progress against the Fire Lord. Aang was, as she thought he might be, reluctant to strike a killing blow. It didn't matter. If the need arose for such a thing, she was more than ready to do it in his stead.

Her fingers tingled. At first, she thought the rock had hit her harder than she'd realized, but then the feeling grew, and she knew what it was.

_Oh... it looks like the Firebending's back on..._

Her eyes widened as Aang was blasted back, landing next to Katara, who spun in shock to see the Fire Lord dropping down on one knee, both hands in motion with two fingers extended on each...

Azula was running before she even fully grasped what it was she had planned to do. She arrived in front of Katara just before the lightning bolt, extending a hand outward and redirecting it away, harmlessly striking a wall.

Ty Lee screamed.

Azula smiled up toward her father.

The sounds in the room became fuzzy.

Hands grabbed her gently from behind, and it was a good thing because her legs would no longer hold her weight.

A howl, a single voice which rose into a chorus and gave way to winds she only encountered at sea sounded in her ears.

And then all was quiet, save for the voices near her.

"No..!" Shattered, Ty Lee knelt at her side.

She was down.

"Katara, can you heal her?" The voice was multitude, but laced with tears that spread from glowing eyes.

She was out.

"I... I don't know, Aang," Katara said, barely holding her own tears in. "I can try."

She was dying.

She felt at peace with the idea. She knew what was on the other side. And she had done her best. Hopefully, it was enough.

She wanted to gaze at the faces around her one more time. Mai looked stricken, and her brother was now shouting something, though she couldn't hear. There was warmth and pain, but it seemed far away, and Katara's sweat filled face blocked her view once. She could barely feel Ty Lee on her chest, and Sokka was peering at her, with Toph next to him, in shock which was rapidly turning to anger. Iroh appeared, but was already fading to black...

And in the darkness that engulfed her, she felt warmth, and wind, and sunshine, and she heard the beautiful laughter of a little girl.

* * *

A/N: Don't... kill me.

I apologize that this chapter is so short. Unfortunately, I'm in a serious crunch time at work and have to kick and claw my way to writing time. It's for a good cause, though. I have a new job! But I don't know how much writing time I'll have there, so... I'm trying to finish this story before I transfer :B

Thanks go out to everyone, EVERYONE who's read this, but special thanks, as always, go out to Invaderk. For being there, for being encouraging, and for standing in front of me while I run away from people who want me dead right now.


	20. Dawn

"Azula

"_Azula?!" The voice was high, strident, full of fear, and very out of place when everything around her felt this peaceful and warm. It bothered her, too, because it was familiar._

"_Azula!" The voice dissolved from coherent words to sobs, even whines, which she found heartbreaking. She wanted to comfort the voice—or was it voices? Either way, she wanted it to stop, because she cared._

_She actually cared, and that realization made her happy._

"Azula!" Something impacted with her stomach and nearly knocked her over, and Azula laughed as she knelt to hug Warau. The place was familiar; Green grass, sunshine, warmth, all of them working together to make her feel at peace. Warau clung to her waist, then looked up, laughing, as Azula held her at arm's length to get a good look at her.

The Princess was surprised that her face was wet, but not ashamed. She found it impossible to be anything but happy in this place, reunited with this person who she'd missed far beyond any explanation.

Warau pulled back, with a stern look on her face that would have been fearsome if not for the glittering light in her eyes. "Why did you go and get yourself killed?!" Her lips twitched as she stared at Azula. Death, here, was not the tragedy that it was in the physical world. Still, despite her black humor, her eyes were full of concern.

"I couldn't help it," Azula answered, softly, stroking the girl's brow. "I'm not even sure how it happened. I just remember... someone was in danger, and I was the only one who could help." She narrowed her eyes, blinking, confused. She couldn't remember exactly what _had_ happened. She looked to Warau, her concern growing to fear, but the little girl simply put her hand to Azula's cheek and smiled gently.

"It's okay, Azula." The words sounded older than the girl seemed, full of wisdom that she should not have possessed. "It doesn't matter, in the long run. You did a good thing, and laid down your life for a friend, and that is the best reason to be here."

Azula nodded her head, bowing it, and felt Warau's forehead rest against hers. After a short time, Warau spoke, sounding much more like her old self. "Come on, they're waiting for you!"

She bounded up and pulled Azula's hand, leading the older girl out of the clearing Azula had arrived in and toward a forest. The ground alternated between verdant and wet, but Warau led with unerring efficiency, and before long, she was standing on a large rock, where her cousin Lu Ten and her mother waited, smiling.

Lu Ten shook his head. "You sure don't do anything by degrees, do you, cousin?" He was smiling as he said it, but his eyes were full of the same concern.

Ursa, in contrast, was smiling openly, a gentle smile that made her seem to glow. "I'm so proud of you, Azula," she said, softly. Azula's heart expanded to see her mother looking at her with pride in her eyes instead of the fear she always remembered.

After a short time, when they knelt in a lopsided triangle, Warau and Azula at the point opposite Lu Ten and Ursa, Azula's cousin chuckled. "Well, aren't you going to ask?"

Azula's brow furrowed. "Ask what?"

Lu Ten rolled his eyes. "Anything, really. Everyone who comes here has thousands of questions and plenty of time to get the answers. You, though..."

Warau leaned closer, and Azula looked down at her. The concern was back in her eyes, though she was trying desperately to hide it. Azula looked back at Lu Ten. "Um... how--?"

"The Lightning," Ursa said, sending a quelling look when Lu Ten opened his mouth. "It went through your heart when you redirected it."

"You could see..?"

Lu Ten smiled, a much more benign smile than the wicked one he'd started the conversation with. "If we want, we can watch anyone we have a deep connection with. Warau and Aunt Ursa can watch you more clearly than I can, but I can watch Father easier than them. We saw the whole thing."

Ursa sighed softly. "Iroh developed the technique by watching Waterbenders. He redirects it through his stomach. You had never tried it, or even asked," her voice sounded reproachful, and Azula felt the unfamiliar feeling of guilt in the face of it, "so it went through and stopped your heart."

Azula nodded, then, raising her head, looked directly at Lu Ten. "Was it enough?"

Lu Ten smiled again, a wonderful, peaceful smile that seemed to strengthen Azula as she looked at it. "Yeah, about that," he started, his smile growing slightly ironic. "See... remember when I said you keep trying and trying and then you find out when you pass that it was always enough?" Azula nodded, and he went on. "When you leapt in front of your friends against your father, and saved them knowing you weren't as good a fighter as him? That was all you needed. That was your redemption."

Azula looked at him in awe, then, as if the thought had suddenly occurred to her, blurted out, "So am I dead?"

"There it is," Lu Ten said, nodding and chuckling slightly. Warau whimpered next to her and tightened her hold around Azula's waist. Ursa cast a short glare at Lu Ten before looking at Azula.

"That, my daughter, is up to you now."

"What?"

Lu Ten seemed to be having far too much fun with the subject of Azula's death, and Azula found herself glaring at him the same way her mother had. "Right now, the Waterbender is doing everything she can to bring you back. She's quite powerful when she wants to be, and she has a very strong reagent to help her. It's possible to go back..." He let the final words hang in the air. "If you want to."

Warau looked up at her, her eyes brimming with tears, but utterly silent. She looked at her mother, who smiled encouragingly, then at Lu Ten. Her cousin shook his head.

"We can't make this decision for you, cousin. It's entirely up to you."

"But you all have opinions, don't you?"

Azula looked around at her three companions, reading each face in turn. Warau's opinion was evident, her face full of anxiety. She chewed her lip, but remained quiet. Her eyes pleaded for Azula to stay.

Her mother's face was impassive, reflecting neither anxiety nor encouragement. She simply smiled serenely, her eyes shining with pride.

Lu Ten spoke. "As far as I'm concerned, Azula, you've earned a lot. I think you should go back, though."

"No!" It was Warau, and she stood and faced Lu Ten with a fierce expression Azula had never seen on her face. "No, she needs rest, and she deserves rest! Life over there is... it's... it's painful," she wailed, and turned and faced Azula with her eyes streaming with tears. "It's all loss and pain and hurt until you die! Stay here!"

Azula felt her eyes burning, and she gaped for a moment. Lu Ten opened his mouth to speak, but Azula had already cut him off.

"Warau, do you really believe that? That life is nothing but pain and suffering?" The little girl nodded, and Azula gathered her up in a tight embrace. "I did too," she whispered, and Ursa gasped softly. "But then I met you, and I had my friends... and now I know better." She looked into the girl's eyes, pushing her hair back to see them better. "Life is... was... a good thing." Warau said nothing, but looked down and hugged Azula's neck more tightly. It seemed as if she were silently consenting.

Azula looked over at her mother. "And what about you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Ursa laughed lightly.

"I'm too biased to give you an opinion." When Azula graced her with a skeptical look, she chuckled. "I want grandchildren."

Azula graced Ursa with a look of feigned shock. "Zuko," she said, pointedly, " can give you grandchildren."

"Yes," agreed Ursa, just as pointedly, "but I'm greedy."

Azula could only laugh, then looked at Warau, gently lowering her to the ground. "We'll see each other again. I promise."

Warau nodded, still looking sad, but smiled after a short time. "I love you, Azula."

Azula's heart warmed, even as the area began to fade to a dark, misty grey. "I love you, too, sweetheart," she said, before the world once again went black.

_At first, silence and blackness and lack of sensation pervaded her every sense, and she began to fear that she had traded warmth and love for nothingness. Then, slowly, a low murmur could be heard, a quiet susurration that was oddly comforting. She allowed her consciousness to flow in the low tones, tones which, from time to time, changed pitch and timber, at times confident and calm, at others halting and sad. She could feel touches, too, hands, which seemed to belong to more than one person, sometimes on her brow, sometimes holding her own hand. Rough hands, soft hands, warm hands, cool hands, she was touched and those touches gave her comfort. Soon, words could be picked out, words that she clung to even when they didn't make sense._

"_... so strong, please come back..."_

"_... best friend, what will I do..."_

"_... doing well. She'll be fine, I know it..."_

"_... too stubborn to just..."_

_Each word, each phrase was a distinctive voice, and images flowed through her mind as she began to associate voices with their owners. A strong, stoic face on one side, an open, friendly face on the other, a dark but kind visage, a weathered face full of mirth, a face set yet smiling._

_Her friends._

_She had to wake to see her friends._

"So, I'm sitting there, flabbergasted, and she says that it isn't _me_, it's _her_, and we're just not compatible anymore. I mean, what is she talking about?! It's like I can't make her happy. First I'm overbearing, and the next thing I'm not paying enough attention to her?! And what does she mean when she says 'I can't compete with the moon', the moon has _nothing_ to do with it, even if..."

The voice droned on, as if the speaker, whose identity was just on the edge of Azula's mind, had gotten used to speaking to someone who hadn't spoken back in the past. He continued on from the girl he was talking about to the way another girl whose name he slurred in an odd way, as if embarrassed, continued to hang around with him, but not nearly as forwardly as she used to, to the way that his sister and Aang made stupid faces at each other now that everything was over.

In a flash of insight, she knew who was speaking at her. She grunted, but he went on. Finally, her mouth agreed to work the way she wanted it to.

"Sokka..." It came out as a whisper, and Sokka, on a sort of impulse, answered.

"Huh?"

"Quiet..." She could feel her brows pulling together, but Sokka's voice drowned out any form of explanation she might offer.

"Oh, fine, everyone's a critic. I mean, can't a guy even vent wh- WHOA!" There was a clatter and a thud, and Azula's mouth curled at the corners a bit. With a grunt, Sokka's voice rose above her. "You're awake! How long have you been awake?! Don't answer that, I have to get Katara! Ty Lee's going to..." His voice faded as he rushed out of the room she was in and down the hallway. She could still hear the murmur of his voice from far away, and marveled at his ability to talk when there was no one around to listen.

There was silence for a while, and she blessed the elements for it, but then the thundering sound of half a dozen or so people running down the hall filled her ears. She found her lips curling up again.

Her friends were coming.

"... and then she woke up and told me to be quiet! So I came to ge-"

"All right, all right!" The new voice, which had risen above the murmur of others and cut off the rambling Sokka had to be Katara. "Who were you talking to about all that anyway?"

There was a pause at the doorway, and finally Sokka answered. "Well, it was kind of boring just to sit there, and I had to get stuff off my chest, and she was, you know... there."

Katara's voice went flat. "You were complaining to Azula even while she was asleep? Did you WANT her to have nightmares?!"

Footsteps began to cross the room from the doorway, but Katara's stern voice stopped them. "Give me a chance to look in on her _first_, and _then _we can see about visiting!

There was a brief murmur of protest, but the protester trailed off. Azula could imagine Katara's face twisted in a mask of anger and command. It made her want to smile again.

Finally, she heard the same voice, closer now, speaking in soft and soothing tones. "Azula? Can you hear me?"

Azula nodded, or tried to, then whispered, "Yes."

The relief was noticeable in Katara's voice, and Azula thought she heard a slight tremor when the Water Tribe bender spoke again. "You worried a lot of people, you know." She paused. Azula could hear her swallow. A small hand rested on hers, one that was surprisingly rough. "Thank you. For saving me."

Azula slowly opened her eyes. Katara's eyes were widening in wonder, and a smile was appearing on her dark face, almost against the Water Bender's will. "Thank you," Azula rasped. "For bringing me back."

It seemed that Katara paled, and she murmured something about getting a reputation when a sudden movement beside her made her jump. Mai was standing there, not looking at the Healer, whose face was just beginning to crumple into an indignant look, but down at Azula. Mai's hand was holding the Princess', and she smiled, her lower lip just barely trembling as she pulled in a breath to speak.

"If you ever worry us like that again," she said, her voice low and peaceful, "we have agreed that we will hunt you down and kill you ourselves to spare us the heartache."

Katara gaped, but Azula only smiled. "I love you, too."

"All right," scolded Katara, huffing a breath. "You two can visit." She glared at Ty Lee, who'd just begun to cheer. "_Quietly _and_ briefly_, am I understood?"

Ty Lee nodded vigorously, stepping forward even as Katara shooed everyone out of the room. Ty Lee went to the opposite side of Azula that Mai was on and looked down. Rather than the smile she expected, Azula was surprised to see that Ty Lee was close to tears. The Princess briefly looked at Mai, who only shook her head slightly, then back at her acrobatic friend. "What's wrong?"

Azula felt her patience waning as Ty Lee struggled past some sniffles, but then the acrobat wailed out softly, "You keep almost dying on us!"

Azula's heart went out to the girl, who was bent over her and sobbing. Ty Lee was restraining herself with a little difficulty, and Mai, mystified, rubbed the other's back. After a few moments, Ty Lee snuffed and raised herself a little. "I kept thinking how I didn't trust you, and you were... and you did... and you..." She sobbed again, then controlled her tears, swallowing thickly. "I should have trusted you."

"It's all right, Ty Lee," Azula began, but Ty Lee cut her off, her eyes widening.

"No it's not! I didn't trust you, and then I _betrayed_ you! I was going to tell Sokka your plan!"

"Why didn't you?" Azula's mouth was a straight line, and her roughened voice couldn't yet convey her feelings. Ty Lee swallowed again, this time with a slight tremor of fear.

"Because I kept hoping I was wrong and that you had some plan... so I told him that, instead." Ty Lee snuffled again.

Azula's heart warmed. "So you didn't betray me as much as hoped I wasn't going back to the way I was... right?"

Ty Lee nodded, silent, so Azula went on. "That's actually pretty funny," she said, wearily. "That's what I wanted you to do, is tell one of them that it was an act. You just got so mad that I..." she took a moment to catch her breath, causing a concerned look to pass between her friends. She ignored it. "That I didn't trust _you_. So, I'm sorry."

Ty Lee gaped for so long that Mai had to reach across and close the other girl's mouth. Azula wished with all her heart that she had the strength to laugh. She squeezed each girl's hand feebly.

Mai nodded. "We should let you rest." Both moved to pull away, but Azula's hand tightened.

"I need to know one more thing..." she was panting a little, and so tired, but she pressed on. "How... how did Katara...?"

Mai smiled, squeezing Azula's hand reassuringly. "She had help. Evidently, the tears of all the past Avatars are pretty powerful in their own right."

Azula's brow furrowed, but Mai smoothed it with her fingertips. "Zuko will explain. I'll make sure he comes to see you next. He's a little busy at the moment."

"Go to sleep, Azula," Ty Lee said, barely above a whisper. "You've earned it, okay?"

"Okay," Azula said, but wasn't sure if they heard, because she was already falling into a deep, restful sleep.

* * *

Once again, it was voices that caused her to rise from her restful sleep. She kept her eyes closed, however, hoping that they would quiet down, or—even better—go away. She knew she felt stronger, and she was hungry. That thought was sobering. Broth didn't seem very palatable at the moment.

"Do you think she'll wake up soon, Uncle?"

"Oh, yes, Fire Lord Zuko, I think—" Her uncle's voice was tinged with wry amusement. The reaction was predictable.

"Uncle!" The word was half command, half whine. "I told you not to call me that!"

"Of course, Fire Lord Zuko, I was wrong."

Azula could practically hear Zuko's teeth grinding. She opened her eyes slowly and put on a reproachful look. As usual, Iroh was unperturbed. He actually looked happy. "Look, Fire Lord Zuko! Your sister is awake." He winked at her with the eye that was furthest from her brother.

Zuko wouldn't have noticed. He was at her side in an instant, looking into her face with a look of mixed relief and worry.

"Some of us were trying to sleep, you know," Azula said, her voice filled with shallow mock reproach.

"Tell that to Mai," Zuko shot back, raising his brow. "She insisted we sit with you until you woke up."

Azula nodded, then struggled a bit. Her muscles were either still weak, or stiff from her long sleep. Finally, with a hiss, she glared at her brother and uncle. "Well? Help me sit up!" When they didn't move, she struggled more. By the time Iroh moved forward and placed a broad hand on her back, she was panting.

"If I pass out before I hear what happened--," she started, but Zuko cut her off with a rare wry expression.

"You admitted you needed help. It shocked us."

Iroh grunted a laugh as Azula crossed her arms, slowly. No matter what else may have been wrong with her, being bedridden for however long had left her weakened.

Zuko sat down on her bed, looking at her appraisingly. Finally she could take waiting no longer. "Out with it, Fire Lord Zuzu." Iroh laughed loudly as Zuko blanched.

"I'm not Fire Lord yet," he protested weakly. "There were... other considerations..." Zuko trailed off as Iroh sat on the other side of the bed.

Iroh winked at Azula. "What Fire Lord Zuko means to say, Princess, is that he wasn't sure who would rise to the throne." He cast a knowing look on her, and she found herself wondering, truly wondering if she could be a good Fire Lord.

Like a flash, the imagined career spread through her thoughts. A career that spanned decades, well into a century. It started peacefully enough, but as time wore on, she began to follow more and more into her Father's footsteps. Finally, it culminated into a plain of fire, burning forever, as she stood in the center of it, laughing, half mad with the knowledge that she was the only one left.

Fire Lord Azula from her vision looked like an older version of her yin half from her dreams.

She shuddered and shook her head. "No, Zuzu," she said, softly. "You would be a more fitting Fire Lord than me."

Zuko looked at her for a long while, his eyes narrowed in thought and, Azula thought, a hint of suspicion. Iroh looked, by contrast, serene, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, offering no advice to her or her brother. Finally, Zuko nodded, sighing in half relief, half resignation. "All right." He turned his full gaze on her, raising three fingers. "On three conditions."

"What would they be, brother dear?" Azula asked, her own look turning suspicious.

"One, you will be next in line to the throne, until such time as my heir, if there is one, comes of age."

Azula's eyes narrowed. "What about Uncle." She turned to look at Iroh, who smiled beatifically.

"Oh, I have no desire to sit on any throne. I am looking forward to a nice retirement!" He patted his belly and chuckled. "It may come as a surprise to you children, but I'm not as young as I act!"

"Uncle," said Zuko, as if Iroh hadn't spoken, "will be my chief advisor." Zuko ignored his uncle's protests, grinning slightly so that only Azula could see it, "and tea maker."

The words halted all of Iroh's gyrations, and he sat back down from his attempt to rise with a harrumph. "I don't see why I can't just provide the tea."

"Because, like good tea, the secret to good advice is proper aging."

Azula smiled at her brother. "The other conditions?"

Zuko licked his lips, nodding to himself before he continued. "I need a general. As you've just heard, Uncle won't do it. There is only one person that I know of who brought down two major cities with no loss and few men. I need that on my side."

Azula blinked. She had begun to think she couldn't be taken off guard anymore. It was, of course, a foolish thought where her brother was concerned. He was full of surprises lately.

She had the same trepidation at being a general that she did at being the Fire Lord to begin with. Too much power, she felt, and she would become worse than she had ever been. She opened her mouth to say as much, but Zuko's hand caught hers.

"Believe it or not, I trust you, Azula."

A lump rose in her throat, and she swallowed it down with a small amount of effort. "And the third," she asked, her voice raspy.

Zuko looked into her eyes, his own boring into hers with an intensity Azula had never felt from her brother. He had always tried at it, but never succeeded until now.

"You will never... _ever..._ call me 'Fire Lord Zuzu' again."

Azula smiled widely, feeling her entire spirit well with happiness. "All right. I will be next in line until you have an heir that is of age." Zuko nodded. "And I will be your general, and advise your armies, may we never need them." Zuko nodded again, more fervently. "And I will never call you 'Fire Lord Zuzu' in public."

"_Ever_," Zuko growled.

"Now brother dear," Azula crooned. "Someone is going to have to keep your head from growing too big for your top knot."

"And you don't think Mai is up to that task," Zuko huffed.

"Something tells me, whatever Mai will be doing, it won't give you cause to be_less_ proud." She grinned at him, watching his eyes narrow. It was an old game by now, one they had played since they were children. Finally, with a huff, Zuko crossed his arms and looked away. She had won another contest of wills, except that she could have sworn that there was a hint of a smile on his lips.

They sat in silence for a while, until Azula could no longer hold in the desire to know what no one had spoken to her. "How did the battle end?" She was not surprised to find that her voice was wary, tentative, though she had wanted it to be matter of fact.

Zuko and Iroh immediately sobered. Iroh turned his head, even though it was him who spoke.

"Fire Lord Ozai is dead, Princess."

Azula felt the wind driven from her chest at the news, even though somehow she must have known it was true. Despite the shock she felt, it wasn't due to surprise. Instead, it was if the reality of it hit her, all at once, straight in the gut. She felt a tear slide down her cheek.

"How?"

"It was Aang," Zuko said. "He started to glow after Father tried to kill Katara." He paused, gritting his teeth. "When he saw you had been hit instead, he..." Zuko swallowed, forcibly relaxing his fists. "I've never seen such power."

"It was the Avatar State," Azula said. "It is the manifestation of all the Avatars in time." She looked up. "Very powerful."

"It saved your life," Zuko said with a sad smile. "Tears were streaming down his face while he was still in that state. Katara said they were very powerful spiritually."

Azula nodded, and, for quite some time, the family sat in silence, not worrying about words or protocol or propriety. Only taking comfort in the presence of the others, and mourning, in their hearts, the loss of one of their own.

* * *

A/N: I feel, to begin with, that I must apologize for the huge delay in getting this chapter out. There are two (at least two) reasons for this. The most important being that I got a new job, and it took a while for me to get acclimated to it and figure out where to fit in my writing. It won't be as easy, but I think I have the flow now. The second reason is that this chapter was SUPPOSED to be the last one ;;. There's still too much to tell, so there will be at least one more chapter. Possibly two. (Last time I said that, the story went on for double the chapters I was currently on...)

Thanks as always to Invaderk, who is invaluable in both her grammar correcting skills and her patience, encouragement, and enthusiasm for this story. I honestly wish I had asked her to beta from the beginning... but she hadn't introduced herself then, so it would have been weird :B

Thanks to all of you as well, because whenever I feel like giving up or have writer's block, I just go back and look at the encouraging comments you write, and I get revved up to write again .


	21. Epilogue

The murmurs at her door didn't wake her this time, for which she was grateful. In fact, she had started when she heard the whispers and quickly put away the scrolls she had been consulting. It might have been relaxing for her to look at troop reports and strategies, but she doubted that Katara would agree. And, of late, whatever Katara had said, Mai and Ty Lee had taken it upon themselves to enforce. Within reason.

Azula was certain it was only for the thrill of bossing _her _around for a change.

Instead of the storming entrance of the Water Bending healer, the whispered conversation turned into a whispered argument. Just as Azula was about to call out, a voice cried out, "coward!" and another "ow!".

Toph appeared from the doorway, pulling Aang along by his ear, each step punctuated by a spoken and still pained, "ow" from the Avatar. It was everything and more for Azula not to laugh out loud.

Aang stood at the foot of her bed, still looking down even though Toph had released him. She stood next to, and slightly behind, him, her arms crossed and a look that was both funny and fearsome. Finally, when Aang didn't speak, she smacked him in the back of the head.

"Talk, Twinkletoes!"

Aang looked as if he wanted to run, and Azula's heart went out to him.

"Aang, come here."

His eyes widened, and he swallowed, but he did approach her. His head was bowed like a naughty poodle-monkey, and Azula had trouble stifling a laugh. By the time he stopped, she felt she might be under control.

"Thank you."

The words triggered such an alarmed reaction from the Avatar that Azula _did_ laugh, and Aang's puzzled look only fueled her mirth. When she finally calmed down, a voice from the edge of the bed rang out.

"I _told_ you she wouldn't be mad, Twinkle-toes." Toph had a smirk on her face, staring, or so it seemed, at a point between Azula and Aang. "You wouldn't believe what an ostrich-horse he was being about coming to see you."

"Oh, I believe it," Azula said with a smile. Aang said nothing, seeming to be fall back into his state of fear. Azula reached out and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look into her eyes.

"You did what you had to do. You stopped a tyrant from subjugating the entire planet before he became unstoppable. No one in this palace, or even in the Capital, believes otherwise." Aang swallowed and nodded, but said nothing. Azula sighed. "Besides, you're the _Avatar_. It doesn't exactly raise people's confidence in the world's peacekeeper if he is sulking around like a guilty little boy..." She smiled, hoping that it would take some of the sting from her words, and was happy to find that such a gesture came more easily than it had in the past.

"I keep trying to tell him that," Toph snorted, "but he doesn't listen."

"I was angry." It was the first thing he'd said at all, and now that he had, it was if the words gushed from him. "I was so angry that he attacked Katara, and... then, when it turned out he hit you, he said it was what traitors deserved..."

"_Aang!_" Toph shouted, but Azula merely shook her head.

"I came to grips with Ozai a long time ago, Toph." Azula said, shaking her head. "I would have been surprised if he'd felt anything less."

Aang swallowed. "I k—"

"You _did_ what you _had_ to do, Aang. As the Avatar, and as a person. There was no redemption in him." Azula could tell that Aang didn't believe her, or accept her opinion of her father, and she found that she couldn't blame him, even if it was inconvenient. "At least know that neither Zuko, Iroh, nor I will seek any retribution."

After a long time, Aang nodded, and then backed away. A smile, very slight but also very real, flitted across his face. He reached the door, looked back once, and dashed away as if released from school. Azula chuckled.

"So," Azula said when she was certain Aang was finally gone, "I heard that the Kyoshi Warrior left Sokka behind..." Her eyebrows rose, and she glanced toward Toph, who was blushing furiously.

"He's still an idiot," Toph mumbled, but couldn't seem to hide her smile. She turned her face toward Azula, a wolfish grin on her face. "I'll have to get rid of your acrobat friend, too. Is that going to be a problem?"

Azula shrugged. "She knows the risks, I'm sure."

Toph laughed and sat on the bed, leaning back and facing the ceiling, and sat there for a few hours, just chatting with Azula about everything and nothing.

* * * * *

She recognized her surroundings. It was the same as the first time she'd come here, but how she'd come to arrive, she had no idea. She was, unlike the other times, more than content, and she definitely wasn't dying. This was a plus in her mind.

The clearing was as warm as when she first visited, but seemed less clear somehow, as if she'd just woken up and there was still a haze of sleep in her eyes. She was enjoying the warmth when a small hand on her back caused her to turn.

There, looking up at her, smiling happily, was Warau, and Azula found herself laughing as the little girl wrapped her arms around the Princess' waist.

"No," Warau said, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at Azula, "you're not dead." They both laughed, and Warau started pulling her to a small pond that seemed to have a hazy glow around it. "In fact," continued Warau, "You're getting farther and farther from it. So I wanted to show you this while I could!" She knelt at the pond, and gestured for Azula to do the same. "I found this pond before your momma found me. I touched it, and I saw what might have happened if I hadn't..." She paused, and Azula felt her throat tightening. "So I thought," Warau continued, glossing over her slip, "what could it show Shagua?" She winked, and Azula sneered a little and tweaked her nose.

"You know my name now," she said, surprised when it came out as a whisper, and Warau giggled.

"I _liked_ the name Shagua!" Warau lightly took Azula's wrist and pulled it toward the water. A sudden pang of fear tore through the princess, and she yanked her hand back as if the water was scalding hot. Warau's brow furrowed.

"What is it?"

"I..." Azula swallowed against a lump in her throat. Her voice was dry and scratchy. "I don't think I want to know. Or need to know. Or should know." She was making excuses, she knew, but somehow, she knew that touching the water wasn't going to be pleasant.

Warau took her hand, holding it between two tiny hands, and looked up into Azula's eyes. Azula's breath caught, and she felt compelled to stare into the deep eyes of her newest friend.

"Trust me, Azula. Please?"

Azula nodded, and allowed Warau to pull her hand to the water, skimming it over the top. The disturbed surface made ripples, and as they slowed and stopped, the image on the water changed from a reflection of the hazy sky to her. Events seemed to go by all too quickly, snippets of a life, like a play rather than a memory. It became evident that the water bourn Azula was not the same as the one who watched.

In the water, Azula did not fight the Avatar and nearly die. Instead, she told her father that Zuko had killed him and let her brother deal with the consequences. He defected, and his father made her his advisor.

Eventually he was caught (or, it seemed at times, he'd snuck into Boiling Rock like a fool) and, when Azula came to deal with him, Ty Lee and Mai came to a point where they had to choose. Mai choose against her, and was very nearly killed, without Ty Lee's intervention.

Her friends had betrayed her, and, watching, Azula didn't blame them.

The betrayal led to a spiral of madness and paranoia, and though she was crowned Fire Lord, it was a pyrrhic victory. The day of her coronation, the day of the comet, Zuko and Katara came and fought her. Zuko took her place as Katara's savior, and Katara, single-handedly defeated her, leaving her a raving, screaming mess chained to a grate.

_There but for the grace of the gods,_ she thought, and smiled in relief. That wasn't her. It wouldn't be her. She would be better.

Warau clung to her again, and spoke, softly, tinged with sadness, but also, now, hope. "I don't think I'll be able to draw you back again, Azula. I don't think I should, not until it's your time." Azula nodded, but Warau continued. "It won't seem like long. It'll be sooner than you know, I think." She looked up, her child like smile belying the wisdom of her words. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Azula whispered, and kissed the girl's forehead. They looked into each other's eyes, and Warau spoke again.

"Azula? Wake up... Azula, wake up, are you OK?"

She opened her eyes, somehow startled to see, not the deep brown of Warau's eyes, but the dark blue of Katara's. The Waterbender looked concerned.

"You were crying. Are you hurt?"

"No," Azula said, straining a little to sit up. "No, it... it's OK." She smiled, happy for reasons that all memories of were fading fast. "Just a little dream."

Katara looked at her for a short time, and then nodded. "OK, then, want to get out of bed for a while?" She grinned. "Ty Lee wants to go shopping."

Azula laughed and allowed Katara to help her out of bed.

* * * * *

Time moves, and in time even the deepest wounds fade, leaving a scar or disappearing for good. The lightning bolt burn in her hand never truly faded, but she was able to forget, when she didn't see it.

Zuko married Mai, of course, and was crowned Fire Lord, and soon Azula's titles increased by one when she found herself being called "Auntie". The first time she held little Kaiya, she'd had to sit down or she'd have fallen over from her wobbly legged pride.

On a mission to the Earth Kingdom, She, Ty Lee, and Mai found Warau's grave. On it was a stone, which was engraved. "Warau - She laughed, and changed the world." Azula closed her eyes and smiled, and they spent the rest of that day remembering the little girl who'd begun Azula's change of heart.

Toph went home, suffered her loss, and came back. Ty Lee drifted away after some missions to the Earth Kingdom. Uncle Iroh, too content with living, didn't seem to change. Aang and Katara went to the South Pole, never really cementing their relationship, and never really needing to. Sokka went with them.

And life went on. Jet attacked, friends were called, favors were called, and people were reunited. Nothing, it seemed, worked out the way they'd thought it would, and still everything worked out. And before long, Kaiya was on tenterhooks waiting for her cousin to arrive.

When presented with her daughter, Azula smiled up at her husband, who nodded with understanding. She looked at the tiny bundle with the shock of black hair, and gasped when the little one opened her eyes. Despite their different color, there was a familiarity in the eyes that Azula felt drawn to. The baby's mouth moved, widening in a near smile, and Azula found herself answering the smile on her own.

"Warau," she whispered, looking up at Sokka. "Her name will be Warau."

* * * * *

I have to apologize. I had so much to do before the end of the year that stories took a back seat. And then plot bunnies bit, but the bunny for this story reused to. I think she's afraid of ending. But end she must. I hope this ending met with everyone's expectations. It's more of an epilogue than an ending, but I'm happy with it.

This is it. It's over now. I'm going to bed ;)

Eternal thanks to:

Invaderk, for pulling out all the barbs and stickers and making this story flow much better.

RadiantBeam, who's Web of Lies was the inspiration behind this fic, and whose encouragement knows no bounds.

BenRG, talonlee, Forlorn Maiden, Sapphire Wolf Master, Fire Lord Azula, and Wolfen Dreams, who have given me in depth commentary and support through the long, involved process of this writing.

BenRG again for giving me the idea of having Azula and company visit Warau's gravesite.

The rest of the reviewers, whose reviews I still read when I need a pick me up or inspiration.

If you is confused by the pairings implied at the end, you absolutely need to go read RadiantBeams "Web of Lies". Then you will understand. :D

J


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